Off to Sinnoh!
by piano-girl9989
Summary: Alex, a pokemon trainer from Pallet Town, runs away from home leaving her brother behind. She starts her Sinnoh journey, but what happens when she runs into Paul? And what dangers await her? Paul X OC later on. Rated T for probable language.
1. The Beginning

**Off to Sinnoh!**

**A Pokémon Story**

Ok. So this is my first story. (Yayyy) I would love to hear your comments and/or some constructive criticism, just please not too harsh. Also I have quite a bad head cold at the moment so I do apologize for any mistakes. I will TRY reallyyyy hard to update on weekends but with schoolwork and other stuff you never know, for all those loving people that care 3. Anyway this first chapter will be of the past so I'm sorry if it seems a bit boring….and I have decided that 10 is kind of young to start traveling the world so everybody starts their journey at age 12. Hope you like it.

I do NOT own pokemon or any characters you do recognize. I only own Alex and Ryan. Story line might be changed a bit.

**Chapter #1 - The Beginning**

**Past**

It was a beautiful summer night. I lay there on my hammock watching the stars sparkle above me. I always loved the outdoors, and I usually slept outside on my hammock. Pallet town was such a quiet, peaceful place, but I couldn't wait to start my pokemon journey and travel from place to place, challenging gym leaders and winning badges. I sighed anxiously, knowing it would all happen soon.

Oh, I should introduce myself. My name is Alex Summers, age 11 and currently living in Pallet town in my parents' old house. I have longish dark brown hair with natural red highlights when the sun hits it, it comes down about 2 inches below my shoulders, and I have dark brown, almost black, eyes to match. My parents died when I was only four years old, so I was left to raise myself, along with my half brother Ryan. We both look like our dad so he looks basically the same, but shorter hair and his eyes are lighter then mine. We're the same age and act a lot the same although I have a bit of a darker side, from my mom, especially if I'm mad, and Ryan is more bubbly, from his mom. I love my brother a lot though. He's the only blood family I have left.

We're both friends with Ash and Gary, but they aren't around each other a lot so I tend to stick around Gary, because of my dark side, and Ryan with Ash. We try to stay out of their arguments though.

I glanced over at Ash's house, right next to Ryan's and mine, and saw his bedroom light on. I got up off my resting place, walked over to under his window and carefully climbed up to his window, which was rather difficult in bare feet. ('Cus who really uses doors these days anyway) Once up, I balanced myself on the widow sill and quietly knocked. As a child I figured out if I wanted to talk or just someone to listen, I went to Ash. Gary…not so much. He was more of my scheming buddy. Ash brought me out of my thoughts as he opened he window enough for me to jump in. I sat down on his bed and he joined me after shutting his window. We soon got into some random conversation and after about a half-hour I found myself gazing at his wall.

"What are you looking at Alex?" Ash questioned, wondering why I was staring at his wall.

"Nothing really," I responded now looking at him. "I'm just thinking about us starting on our journeys." See, my brother and me are turning 12 next week, then Gary and Ash not far after, so we really would be starting our journeys soon.

Ash broke into a wide grin. "I know," he said, "Its gonna be awesome!" he yelled while punching his fist in the air.

I laughed and quickly shushed him. "You're going to wake your mother," I said and as if on queue, Delia, Ash's mom peered into the room and said

"Good evening Alex, good to see you. How are you and your brother doing?"

She knew I sometimes came and chatted with Ash so it didn't surprise her to see me there. She was always worried about my brother and I living by ourselves and checked up on us constantly. I smiled at her and replied, "We're great, thanks! How could we not be, your always helping us and taking care of us."

She chuckled and muttered an "I suppose" and asked politely "Would either of you like some hot chocolate, tea, anything?"

"No thanks Mrs. Ketchum. I better go get some sleep," I said.

"But we barely got to talk," Ash whined.

I giggled and promised him "Tomorrow, okay Ashy-boy?" And I proceeded to jump out the window.

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Again, I'm sorry if that seemed a little boring. I'll try to make the next one better. Please tell me what you think so far. I'll update soon!


	2. Saying Goodbye, or Not

**Pokémon**

**Chapter #2 Saying Goodbye…Or Not**

This will be how my current journey starts. Next chapter will be in…. another point of view!!! Please, please, please review! Even if I just get one person to review today, I will basically love that one person forever. I do NOT own pokemon or it's character that you recognize. I only own Alex and Ryan.

**Present**

I woke up to my radio playing soft music and my little eevee who was also stirring from her spot on my stomach. I quickly turned off my radio before it woke up my brother. I then gently lifted eevee off my stomach and back onto my bed as I crawled out of bed and slowly made my way over to my window, looking out at the dark sky.

It was only 5 in the morning at the moment. Why would I get up that early you way ask? Well you see, I'm planning setting off to the Sinnoh region today. My brother wants me to stay home for a little while, since I just got back from Hoenn, and help him with his pokemon day care center. I may enjoy traveling, but Ryan loves taking care of pokemon from our home. Many people bring him pokemon to take care of for a while and he's really good at it too. He thinks I need some 'down time' before I start traveling again, but it's been a week! He can stay home all he wants but I'm traveling. And today's the day I'll be leaving… without telling him.

Ash is supposed to be leaving today too. The only person I told about me leaving is my best buddy Gary, or Gare-bear as I started calling him (Usually when I'm trying to annoy him). He helped me plan out the whole escape thing. The first thing I had to was wake up before my brother, which wasn't hard at all considering I'm usually up before him anyway. Then I had to have everything all packed and ready to go with only the pokemon I am taking with me. Since my brother will be at the boat to Sinnoh to see his best friend Ash off, I will by flying on one of my many pokemon that I have caught and trained on my journeys. I've been to all the regions, challenged all of the gym-leaders and won all the badges (not including Sinnoh).

No, I did not do all this to be a pokemon master like Ash. I mostly did it to see the world, nature, create the strongest bonds possible with my pokemon and of course to help the professors with their pokemon research. I also have competed in a fair share of pokemon contests. I believe they're great ways to have fun with your pokemon and show them off. Plus, contest routines are very helpful in other battles as well. I met a lot of interesting people and pokemon during my journeys, got to do a lot of camping and I did meet up with my old friends a lot too.

I smiled at the memories as I grabbed my normal attire and threw it on. I was now wearing my loose blue denim jeans with a black pokemon belt hanging loosely around my waist, a leafy green polo shirt with two, my old, comfy black running shoes, a lime green bandana tied around my upper arm and a necklace that could hold two pokeballs around my neck. Professor Oak gave it to me for my Birthday last year so now I can hold up to eight pokemon at a time! I dashed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and my shiny brown hair, with my bangs parted to my right, stopping just about mid eye length. I usually kept them covering my eye.

My eevee looked at me sleepily and yawned as I checked to make sure I had everything I needed. I patted her on the head and whispered, "You can rest in you pokeball for the ride over, ok Isis?" while I returned her to her pokeball and placed in inside my necklace. I only called my pokemon by their names if I'm holding a conversation with them. If not I just called them by their names (species). Weird, I know.

I stealthily jumped out of my window, careful to make no noise, and ran over to the professor's lab to collect my other pokemon I was taking with me. Since I figured I would be catching more pokemon in Sinnoh, I decided to only take eevee, who is my starter, cubone, the little baby that I couldn't bare to leave by himself, and I would be flying over on my charizard, who was my second pokemon I ever got after I saved him from drowning in a river as a charmander when I first started my journey.

The professor was out at the moment so I let myself in, snatched my pokeballs and ran to the field to call them out. Soon my large charzard and my tiny cubone were in front of me.

Don't worry, my charizard is my best friend and is totally obedient, which Ash is really jealous of since his will barely listen to a word he says. My charizard and I have a really close bond that I worked really hard on. He respects me a lot for that day I saved him. He can get a rather 'fiery' attitude if you mess with me, him or my other pokemon, so I nicknamed him Hotshot.

My cubone I just caught before I last came home. It was a newborn that just lost his mother, so it's still very young. I took care of it and now it thinks of me as his mother. I nicknamed him Skull.

My eevee was my starter pokemon from professor Oak. We have the strongest bond out of all my pokemon and even though she's small and un-evolved, she can easily knock out a pokemon ten times the size she is. I've asked her if she wanted to evolve before but she refuses every time and I'm fine with that. She keeps all my pokemon, and me, in place and also hates when people mess with either of us. I often leave her out of her pokeball to keep me company, like Ash's pikachu. I nicknamed her Isis.

I gazed over at Gary's house to see him watching me. I picked up my cubone and held him tightly as I flung myself onto my awaiting charizard's back and told him to go over to Gary's window. Gary had his widow open and was slightly leaning out so he could talk to me as charzard hovered outside his window.

"Well you're up early. Everything is going as planned." I said softly.

He gave me a small smile and said, " I wanted to say goodbye to you before you left, and to tell you to call me sometimes to tell me how you're doing."

I chuckled. "Aww you're going soft Gary Oak. You know I'll call you whenever I can. I think I'll wait until my brother cools down before I try calling him though." I grimaced thinking of what he would say. "Please tell him I'm sorry."

Gary nodded and I gave him a hug, well the best I could while hovering and holding cubone at the same time. "I'll miss you my little Lexi," he whispered in my ear.

I pulled back, stuck my tongue out at him at his use of my nickname and said our famous line, "Smell ya later my Gare-bear," while charizard took off flying over the sea to Sinnoh and cubone and I waved back to a smirking Gary Oak.

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Ok. Again please review! And yes, the next chapter will be in...another point of view!! Review away!


	3. Back Home

**Pokemon**

**Chapter #3 – Back Home**

I would like to thank those who reviewed so much! I really appreciate it. I will try really hard to make it better.

I do not own pokemon or any of its characters. I only own Alex and Ryan.

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Ryan's POV

I woke up to an unnaturally quiet house. Alex is almost always up before I am. I sat up in my bed suddenly, looking down at my startled plusle.

"Sorry little buddy," I chuckled patting him the head. I suddenly looked at my clock. " Oh no, I'm going to be late!" I gasped, forgetting about my sister and running around my room to get ready.

My best friend and next-door neighbor, Ash Ketchum, is leaving for the Sinnoh region today and I promised I'd go and see him at his goodbye party. Which is in 5 minutes! My sister was terribly upset when I told her she should stay home for a bit after her last journey, but I wanted to spend some time with her. It might seem selfish but I haven't gotten to spend any real time with her since we traveled around Kanto together. After I opened the day care, she started traveling by herself. Sure she calls every once in a while but it's not the same.

Plusle was rolling on the floor laughing at my random outburst of trying to get ready. I had pulled on my favorite navy t-shirt, baggy blue jeans and white sneakers. I smoothed down my brown hair and ran out the door, seeing I was already a few minutes late.

"Plusle, can you take care of the pokemon for me? Thanks, and stop laughing at me!" I shouted back, still running.

Professor Oak gave my sister and I special pokemon as starters, knowing we were responsible enough to handle the challenge. He had chosen a plusle for me an eevee for my sister. Plusle and I are really close and he often helps me with the day care.

It didn't take long to reach Ash's house, where the town was huddled to say their "goodbyes" or "good lucks" to Ash. I soon found my friend over talking to the Professor.

"Hi Ash, are you all set to go?" Ash turned to face me and grinned. "You bet I am." he pretty much yelled, then looked around, "But hey, where's Alex?"

I glanced around too and replied, "I don't really know. I didn't see her this morning so I kind of assumed she was here."

Ash's face fell. "But she was supposed to come and say goodbye," he whined. "Even Gary's here," he said with venom in his voice when he said Gary's name.

Gary and Ash never really got along together that well. I looked and sure enough, Gary was heading in our direction. "Hey Ash, good luck in Sinnoh," Gary said and held out his hand for Ash to shake.

Ash looked rather surprised but shook his hand anyway and said, "Hey, thanks Gary." "Hn whatever, you're going to need it," he smirked and continued, "Well, I think your ride is here. Smell ya later, Ashy-boy." And with that he walked away.

"Will you stop calling me that?" Ash yelled, but then realized that Gary said his boat was here, and he turned around.

"Well, I'll see you later Ash. Call home every once in a while, alright?" I said with a sad smile at seeing my best friend leaving.

He smiled back and said, "I will."

He walked onto the boat, faced everybody while yelling and waving, "Bye everybody!" Everyone was waved back at his retreating figure. At least I have my sister for a while, right? I wonder were she is. Gary.

I went back to where Gary was and asked, "Hey, have you happened to see Alex today?"

Gary looked rather nervous as he answered, "Well….um yeah."

I waited for him to continue, but when he didn't, I asked, "Well where is she," starting to get annoyed.

"About that, she kind of… left for… for Sinnoh early this morning…" he finally got out.

"…SHE WHAT?" I yelled rather loudly, and then stormed back to my house.

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Next chapter will be in my normal POV, but will involve flashbacks. Sorry. I'd love to hear what ya'll think!!!


	4. Flying Fish?

**Pokemon**

I have decided to take the flashbacks I mentioned earlier out because I know some people tend to not like them (like me).

I do not own pokemon or it's characters. I only own Alex and Ryan.

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**Chapter # 4 - Flying Fish?**

I let out a sigh as I surveyed the stunning, calm blue sea around us as we soared past. My hair danced wildly around my face. We had been flying for about seven hours now, and I estimated it would take eight to get there. Charzard glided gracefully through the bright, cloudless sky. Cubone sat in my lap, drinking a bottle of milk with a content look on its face. Eevee was in her pokeball taking a nap, resting up until we got to Sinnoh.

I could just see the tops of trees and mountains in the distance. Cubone had now started to admire all of the water pokemon that were swimming around and leaping high up in the air then splashing back down.

There was suddenly a beeping noise coming from my backpack. I rooted through until I found my pokenav I got from Hoenn. Looking to see who was calling, I saw my brother's number flashing on the screen. 'Stupid Gary' I inwardly groaned as I dialed his number after my brother had given up.

Gary's face appeared on my screen. "Please don't be mad at me. He asked me and I had to tell him!" he defended himself, already guessing what I was going to say.

I sighed. " I'm not mad, but tell me. How mad is he?" I asked, referring to my brother.

He visibly cringed and replied, "Well let me put it this way. I'm thinking I should have followed you for a month or so to get away from his ranting… maybe longer."

"I'm sorry Gary." I sympathized. "Dude, I'm going to be so dead when he sees me again," I mumbled as an afterthought.

"At least you're far away from him," he grumbled back. I had to grin at that.

"I have to go Gary, I'll talk to you later." I said.

"Later Lexi." He replied and disappeared off the screen.

"Cubone cu-cubone!" Cubone shouted pointing down at the ocean.

"What is it Skull?" I asked looking the way he pointed. There was some kind of fish that looked like it was trying to fly? With an injured wing maybe?

"Hey Hotshot, can you fly lower please?"

He started declining and I could see it more clearly now. It had a light blue middle with darker blue wings, antennas and back. Its wing was injured, so I decided to catch it and take it to a pokemon center when we landed.

"Ok cubone, use bonemerang!" Cubone jumped up and threw its club at it.

For a baby, he had awesome aim. It was a direct hit! I quickly threw an empty pokeball at the struggling blue pokemon. Needless to say it wasn't very hard to catch. Charzard flew lower so I could collect the pokeball.

Taking out my powder blue pokedex, I scanned the pokeball hoping for some info. Sadly, nothing came up except "No information available". 'Must be a Sinnoh pokemon' I thought. Then I patted my pokemon while telling them they did a great job.

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'Finally' I thought as we touched ground. I inspected the area around where we landed and noticed there were no pokemon centers, labs or markets.

Reading a sign just ahead of us I said "Twinleaf Town. Fresh and free." Cubone and charzard sat, waiting patiently for instructions as I scanned over the map of Sinnoh Gary had "borrowed" for me.

"Hotshot, would you mind flying us a little farther to the next town?" I asked.

He bowed down as if telling me to get on. Suddenly, I swore I heard an explosion and what sounded like "Blasting off again," coming from over the sea, but looking over I saw nothing.

'Weird' I thought then shouted, "To Sandgem Town!" with my fist on the air, and off we went again.

* * *

There were a few starley fluttering around. 'Ryan has always wanted a strong bird type. And a starapter, the evolved form of starly would be perfect for him. Maybe if I caught one for him he wouldn't be so mad at me.' I considered. My eevee watched them also as she stretched from her long nap.

"Ok Hotshot, land please." I ordered.

Jumping off, I then decided cubone needed the battle training, and it was only a little starley.

"Hotshot, Isis, I want you two to circle around and look for other interesting pokemon while Skull and I try to catch a starley. Alright?"

They both nodded and took off, eevee riding on charzard's back and cubone and I walking through the forest. Little did I know that it wasn't such a good idea…

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Oh no! What happens? Keep reading to find out! And please review!

Next chapter will have some other points of view as well!!! Exciting, isn't it??


	5. Anger & Mysterious Sightings

**Pokémon**

Well, as I said before this chapter will have another point of view, as well as my own. Enjoy!

I do not own pokemon or it's characters. I only own Alex and Ryan.

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**Chapter # 5 – Anger & Mysterious Sightings**

**Paul's POV**

Weak, pitiful worthless and pathetic. All of them were. It almost made me sick just looking at them. I needed something strong, something special. Not just a little wild wimp.

I looked over at my elekid, standing at my side, waiting for it's next command. 'Where can I find some decent pokemon' I asked myself. A couple of stray starlys wandered my way. "Elekid, get rid of them. Thunder punch." I said boredly. That attack alone was enough to knock them all out. "Just like the rest, pathetic." I growled.

Suddenly, a flash of red and brown caught my eye. Flying high over the trees was what looked like a fair sized bird. I smirked, "Looks decent enough to me." Elekid squinted, trying to get a good look at the bird too. It was quite far away, so it was difficult to identify exactly what it was. But now I wanted it.

"Ok elekid, use thunder." I demanded, gesturing to the red thing. It charged up a bit of electrical energy and let loose a somewhat strong thunder attack. It appeared to have hit because looked like it was now falling in a steep decline. "Let's go!" I shouted at elekid, running in the general direction of the red bird. I was determined to catch it.

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**My POV**

After a few minutes of searching, we came upon a healthy looking starley. Cubone hopped down out of my arms and got into a battle stance. He watched a lot of my battles with my other pokemon and it taught him some battling skills and techniques.

"Ok cubone, let's use headbutt." I said.

"Bone" he yelled, charging at the starley, but it was too quick and dodged.

"Keep it up." I encouraged.

Despite all his efforts the starley just kept dodging. Finally, starley had enough and shot in with a quick attack. 'Wow. It's really fast' I thought, exclaiming, "Watch out cubone!" I was certain it would hit, but amazingly, cubone unexpectedly vanished and reappeared on the opposite side of the field.

I gasped and grabbed my pokedex to check it out. It said, "Detect. Detect protects the user from all effects of moves that targets it during the time it is used."

"Yeah! Go cubone!" I cheered, but abruptly stopped.

"Roar!" I heard and quickly snapped my head up in time to see charzard seemingly get hit by a bolt of thunder and start plummeting to the ground, while eevee was hurled in the other direction. My charzard had a badly injured wing I noted as I hastily recalled him before he hit the ground. I placed his pokeball in my necklace and returned cubone as well, attaching his to my belt. Now, I had to go and fetch my poor eevee, wherever she was.

'Whoever did this is going to pay' I thought bitterly as I ran through the woods towards the area I had last seen my beloved starter.

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**Paul's POV**

Not even 5 minutes later I was standing in the spot I was sure the red thing had fell. I looked around and, nothing!

"Where the hell did it go?" I growled, quite annoyed at the fact the only remotely possible pokemon worthy of capturing in this area had gotten away from me.

"How did it get away so fast? I saw it get hit." I muttered.

Putting my elekid back in its pokeball, I stuffed my hands into my pockets and headed off to look for another pokemon. There was nothing else for me here.

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**My POV**

I had to stop to catch my breath. I had been wandering aimlessly looking for eevee and ended up stumbling by a beautiful, but eerie lake. There was a calm zephyr and I could have sworn I saw an outline of a rare pokemon floating above the water, but it was gone again as fast as it came.

'Weird' I thought again, and continued my search.

Not long after, I heard strangely familiar voices and whimpering. I hurried my pace and walked into a clearing where my poor eevee lay injured on the ground with the team rocket goons (Jesse, James and meowth) huddled over her.

"And what exactly do you goons think you're doing?" I demanded crossly while carefully picking up eevee and cradling her.

"We were…" they started, but I cut them off, "I don't really care, you aren't getting my eevee. Now back away," I snapped.

"But we…"

"I SAID BACK AWAY!!!" And with that they ran away with tears running down their faces. Cowards.

I summoned my wounded eevee into her pokeball and put it in my necklace next to charzard. I desperately needed to get to a pokemon center. So, on foot, I made my way to Sandgem Town and anything that dared stand in my way, met my steaming wrath.

Now, I was NOT in a good mood.

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**Hope you liked it!**


	6. Sandgem Stranger

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Pokémon

I'm sorry about the delay in updating. I've been really busy lately as well as working on other story ideas.

I do not own pokemon or it's characters. I only own Alex and Ryan.

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**Chapter # 6 – Sandgem Stranger**

Upon arriving in Sandgem town, I wasn't in much of a better mood. I picked up my pace as I headed straight to pokemon center to heal my pokemon.

"Hello, how may I help you?" Nurse Joy asked as I approached her.

I faked the best smile I could manage and held out my 4 pokeballs. "Could you take care of my pokemon please?"

"Of course. I'll call you when they're ready." She replied, putting my poke balls on a tray and walking away.

I headed towards the door thinking now might be a good time to see Professor Rowan about updating my pokedex.

* * *

A strange old man limped up to me on the way asking, "Excuse me young lady. Could I ask you for a favor?"

"Depends," I replied suspiciously, "What kind of favor?"

He slowly pulled a pokemon egg from his bag and answered, "I need someone to take this egg off my hands for me and take care of it. I'm far too old to be looking after such a young pokemon.

My eyes shone and I smiled from ear to ear. I absolutely loved hatching pokemon eggs, and the cute little baby pokemon too. Yes, I have a soft spot for cute things. "I'd love to!" I exclaimed snatching the egg and examining it all over. "Do you have any idea what it is?" I asked excitedly looking up, but the old man was already gone. 'Ok, again, weird'. Shrugging it off, I carefully placed it on the top of my book bag and pondered over what it could be for the rest of the trip to the lab.

Walking in the sliding doors, I stopped in my tracks looking around curiously. The place was a pig sty. "Is anybody here? Professor Rowan?" I asked raising my voice.

"Right here." He responded, peering out a doorway at me. "I'm sorry but if you're here for you're starter pokemon then you'll have to wait a little while."

"Actually, my names Alex, from Pallet Town and I was wondering if you could update my pokedex for me. That is, if you're not too busy." I glanced again at the broken window and the papers scattered around the floor.

"Oh. In that case it's no problem. It'll only take a second."

"That's great." I handed my blue pokedex to him and he walked into another room. A minute later he walked in and handed it back. "All done." He said.

"Thanks a lot professor." I smiled looking it over, then placing it back in my pocket.

"No problem at all. Take care of yourself there little missy."

"I'm not little." I muttered under my breath as I exited the lab and trekked back to the pokemon center.

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My pokemon were waiting for my by the time I got back. Cubone and eevee were fine and well rested, charzard's wing was badly broken and was wrapped tight in a bandage and couldn't fly for quite a while until it healed. And the blue fish thing, which is apparently called a mantyke, also had an injured wing with bandages so she couldn't fly either. I thanked Nurse Joy and headed out of the town, down the road to Jubilife City to find a place to sleep as the sun was starting to set.

We stopped at a nice little clearing by the side of the road, a little less then halfway to Jubilife, and set up camp.

Eevee, cubone, mantyke and I all sat nibbling on apples I had picked off a nearby tree next to an open campfire. Charzard didn't feel very sociable tonight, annoyed with his broken wing and the fact that he couldn't fly, so he had only stayed out long enough to devour some apples and start the fire before returning to his pokeball.

The sky was pitch black now with no stars in sight, so I decided it was time my friends and I got some sleep. "Aqua, return." I said using the new nickname I gave mantyke. "Bedtime guys." I called crawling into my cozy purple sleeping bag. Cubone came over and lay down next to my stomach and eevee curled up at my head.

As I lay there, my mind wondered off to my new egg. I was usually really good at guessing what they would be, but this one puzzled me so it must have been a Sinnoh pokemon.

I then thought about the flyers I had seen advertising the upcoming contest in Jubilife. I pondered over entering but decided against it. We had just gotten to Sinnoh and I would have to come up with a performance routine and I just wasn't ready yet. So tomorrow I would just buy some supplies I would need and start heading off towards my first gym battle.

'The Oreburgh City gym. The rock type gym' I thought. 'Unless I catch a new pokemon on the way, I'll have to use eevee, charzard and cubone'. I knew mantyke would be a better match up with it being part water, but I didn't believe in match ups that much and with its lack of battling skill with me it would take a lot of training. Plus it had its injured wing so I planned on sending it back to Professor Oak in the morning for some rest.

Eevee was my strongest I would say and she loved to battle tough opponents. Even though charzard had a broken wing, I knew he could make it up in his strength and firepower, so he would be fine. Cubone was still little, but if it came down to it, I knew he could take on a gym, if need be.

I also decided to register in the Sinnoh league. I hadn't competed in any of the other regions but I always watched them and they looked like a lot of fun. I was getting the badges anyway so why not?

Finally, I let sleep overtake me and had a well earned good nights rest.

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**~Earlier that same day~**

**Ash's POV**

I dialed my mom's number to thank her for my new clothes she sent me. 'I'm really glad I have pikachu back' I thought looking over at him sitting on my shoulder.

When she picked up I quickly thanked her and told her I was having a great time in Sinnoh.

"Well I can see that," she said smiling, "By the way, have you seen Alex yet? How is she?"

"What are you taking about mom? She's still with Ryan back in Pallet Town." I laughed, thinking she forgot already.

"Actually," she started, "Apparently she left early this morning to Sinnoh without telling anybody but Gary! It's all our little towns been going on about and I've been trying to calm Ryan down since he heard. Anyway don't forget to tell Professor Oak that pikachus ok. Love you honey." And she disconnected.

I stared at the blank screen. "What?" I asked. 'Alex is in Sinnoh? Why didn't she tell me? Maybe because I probably would have let it slip to Ryan. But why haven't I seen her yet?' All of these questions raced through my head. Actually, I don't think I had seen Alex since before I left Hoenn. Finally, I decided I should call the Professor.

After I told him pikachu was safe, I walked out to my friends Brock and Dawn in a daze.

"What's wrong Ash?" Brock asked concerned.

"Alex. Alex is in Sinnoh." I said softly, talking more to myself then to Brock.

"Really? Alex is here? Where?" Brock questioned looking around.

Dawn spoke up feeling very confused, "Um who's Alex?"

"Not here Brock," I answered, "But somewhere in Sinnoh. She's an old friend of ours."

I assured myself that wherever she was she was fine and could take care of herself.

* * *

**Please review! I'd love to hear from you. **


	7. Get Off of Me!

**Pokémon**

Oh my god I have been so busy it is not funny at all. I am really sorry I didn't update earlier. So here finally is chapter #7

Disclaimer: No I do not own Pokémon or it's characters. For now just Alex and Ryan.

**Chapter # 7 – Get Off of Me!!!**

I was having a perfectly good day up until about ten minutes ago.

To start out, I had woken up early, made some pokemon food for my pokemon and grabbed an apple off of a near by tree for myself. Then we got up and left for Jubilife City. There I bought all of the supplies needed for my journey: food, potions, berries, pokeballs, ect.

After that I went to the pokemon center and registered for the Sinnoh league and called Professor Oak.

"Oh Alex, what a surprise." The professor said upon picking up.

I smiled, "Nice to see you too professor. How is everybody?"

"Well Gary went off to do some research for me, and your brother….well Delia's trying to get him to cool off but I can't say it's going very well." He replied rubbing his ear tenderly. I laughed.

"Professor, I actually was wonder if I could send you a pokemon I caught over here back to you. It could use some rest."

"Sure thing Alex. You know the drill. Just place your pokeball right there," he pointed, "And press the red button. That's all there is to it. I can't wait to see what it is." He said looking pleased at the idea of a new pokemon to study.

"Thanks professor. I better her going now, bye." I waved turning the phone off.

Now, I walked down the path to Oreburgh City, eevee perched on my shoulder, when it started. "Beep beep beep." My brother started calling, non-stop! My pokenav beeped repeatedly. I got annoyed after about 10 minutes and growled at it. "Just be quiet you stupid little pokenav." Miraculously, it did stop. 'Must have given up' I thought sighing. "Thank you," I said to the pokenav, putting it back in my backpack.

I reached up and scratched eevee behind her ears. She purred in my ear contentedly.

"What do you think Isis? Should we let Skull out for some fresh air as well?"

"Ee" she nodded.

I enlarged his pokeball and let him out. "Bone?" he looked at me.

"We're on our way to Oreburgh City now." I told him. Eevee jumped down and they ran around playing in the swaying grass and amongst the trees.

I always thought eevee acted like an older sister to all of my pokemon.

Suddenly, I was face down on the ground with something really heavy on top of me. It startled me more by saying, "Hey, you should really watch were your going."

"Says the person sitting on top of me. Now get the hell off of me I can't breathe!" I shouted.

We both got up and started brushing ourselves off. I took in his appearance. He had blond hair, orange eyes, and orange and white stripped shirt, brownish-gray pants, brown shoes, a red poketch strapped on his wrist, a brown backpack and a light green scarf tied around his neck.

He looked over my pokemon and me. "So you must be a pokemon trainer huh? They look pretty weak compared to my pokemon. The name's Barry by the way." He bragged with his nose up in the air.

"Excuse me?" I asked while thinking 'How rude can you get?'

"Well they're so little and weak looking. Oh I get it. You must be one of those rookie girly co-coordinators." He said.

I just gaped. The nerve of this kid.

I started raising my voice, "My name is Alex and I am competing in the Sinnoh league thank you very much! Now listen here little boy, I challenge you to a one-on-one pokemon battle, right here, right now. If you lose," I jabbed a finger in his direction, "You apologize to me and if I lose," I pointed to myself, "Then I will apologize for," air quotes "running into you."

"Fine then, this should be easy." He gloated.

"I'm going to use my roserade." He said enlarging his pokeball and throwing it. "Roserade!" it called.

"Eevee, show them what you're made of." I said. She nodded and got into a low crouch in front of me.

"You can go first," I called. 'He'll need the advantage anyway. We'll show him who's weak' I thought grinning darkly.

"Fine," he called back. "We'll make this quick. Roserade, use weather ball."

"Iron tail." I said calmly. Eevees tail turned white and with her tail she deflected the weather ball back to her opponent, who easily dodged as well.

"Magical leaf." He commanded. Dozens of multicolored leafs appeared around roserade and shot forward.

"Eevee, let's use swift." I countered. Her tail glowed and shiny golden starts shot out as she swished it back and forth. Both attacks collided and caused an explosion and thick smoke to cover the field.

"Dig." I whispered just loud enough for eevee to hear. When the smoke cleared, eevee was nowhere to be seen. Roserade and its trainer frantically searched the field.

"Now eevee!" I commanded, holding in a giggle at their stunned expressions as eevee leaped out of the ground and slammed into her opponent.

Barry's face turned serious once again as he called, "Come on roserade, finish it off with poison jab.

Smirking, I waited until roserade was at a close range before exclaiming, "Now blizzard!" A powerful, frigid blast of snow emerged from eevees mouth and hit roserade head on, sending it flying. It now lay motionless on the ground, knocked out by the super effective attack.

Smiling warmly at eevee, I picked her up in a tight hug. "You were great out there eevee." I praised. Cubone jumped up and down, happily celebrating his friend's victory.

The other trainer returned his fainted pokemon and walked over to me.

"Well?" I asked waiting for my apology.

"Hn," he shrugged, "You just got lucky, but I'll cut you loose this one time. Remember, I'm stronger then your ever gonna be!" He raced off in a hurry.

"Hey, that wasn't an apology!" I shouted after him stomping my foot on the ground and balling my fists, but he was already out of hearing distance.

* * *

There was a small clearing near by where I thought we would stop and rest for the rest of the day. Charzard and I gathered firewood for a campfire later, and were now relaxing under the shade provided by the large shadows of the trees. Eevee and cubone were running and playing out in the radiant suns rays that were already starting to set, and Charzard spent his time constantly glaring at its injured wing, but was adjusting to it a bit.

'My pokemon need look pretty exausted after our long journey here. I'll stay here for a while and let them relax for a few days before we go and challenge the gym. After all, I don't want them to be stressed and tired for our battle do I?' I thought.

I set out food for my each of my friends and they happily ate as I munched on some fresh berries.

We spent about three days there, and on the forth day we would head off to Oreburgh City again for our first Sinnoh gym battle. Will I win? Or will I have to train some more? We'll find out soon.

* * *

Please, review and tell me how I'm doing. I'm extremely exausted right now so it probably isn't very good but I promise it will get better. I have decided this will eventually be a Paul X OC story, but that will come in later. Anyways I'll start working on the next chapter and get it up soon.


	8. What Happens in Veilstone

So sorry I took so long to update, but I've found it's really boring going kind of by the episodes like I have been. So, I need to do that a bit to get to a certain spot.... so I'm going to do this chapter in, pretty much, super fast forward. So, please bare with me for a while.

* * *

**Chapter # 8**

Alex's first gym battle ended in a victory. Ash had arrived not long after, and discovered that Alex had just been there, and left with her badge saying, "When a boy in a red hat with a pickachu on his shoulder comes by, tell him I wish him good luck."

He watched Paul win his badge as well, and was now more determined than ever to show both of them how strong he really was. His fists balled up, showing his frustration. He had lost to Roark, the gym leader.

'_Great, I'm still the one behind all of the others' _he thought.

Little did he know, Alex had watched both him and Paul battle before leaving the rocky city terrain and going on her own way.

Next, she traveled back to the busy streets of Jubilife once again. There she made a quick stop at the pokemon center as her egg hatched into a healthy, baby riolu. It stood a bit taller than eevee with its red eyes, blue and black fur and a yellow collar. The group happily accepted the new addition to their family, nick naming him Aura.

The picturesque Floaroma town was next up. There is where she met a new friend, Kenny. Alex's cubone and Kenny's breloom went into battle, but Kenny's powerful pokemon won. Alex stayed to watch Kenny and Dawn, Ash's friend, compete in the contest, which Dawn won.

Moving down the road to the next town, she discovers a training camp in the area. She thought her pokemon could use a bit of training, so she challenged multiple trainers. She heard about the champ twins from one, and eevee and her decided they would be her next victims.

Two green haired boys, twins, were talking (or rather shouting) at an oddly familiar purple haired guy.

"I said we only do tag battles," said the twin on the left, "So either find a partner or no battle!" Finished the other.

"Excuse me," she smiled walking up to them, " I'll tag up with him."

"Nobody asked you." Purplenette growled.

"Well _sorry_ you rudeness," she coated her words with sarcasm, " But you needed a tag team partner and I was nice enough to offer."

"I told them I'd take them on by myself." He said balling his hands into fists.

"And we told you to find a partner."

"Ok listen you annoying little purple dude." Alex snapped, and he looked at me with shock, as if nobody ever stood up to him before. "You want to battle them and I want to battle them so just stop arguing and tag up with me!"

He thought about it for a minutes, but finally growled out, " Fine, just stay out of our way."

"Oh, by the way, I'm Alex."

"Bryon" "And Ryan" the twins announced proudly.

"Paul." Purple head said.

"Ok, let's battle." "Go quilava!" "Go croconaw!" The twins called.

"Chimchar, stand by for battle." "Take them down eevee!"

The battle was intense, but all of the pokemon were still holding themselves together. "Chimchar," "Quilava," "Flamethrower!" Their trainers ordered. Unluckily eevee was standing a little too close to the flames and got her tail charred.

"Keep your eevee out of the way." Paul said.

"Asshole." She muttered under her breath, and eevee attacked quilava mercilessly, knowing better then to attack her partner.

"Oh no, quilava!" Ryan shouted as eevee finished it off with a final blow.

"Croconaw, finish it off with water gun." She heard Bryon say.

"Flame wheel." Paul commanded. Alex looked at him in shock. His chimchar was in trouble, and she couldn't stand to watch it.

"Stop!" She yelled to chimchar. Both it and its trainer turned to stare at her. "Now quick eevee, use blizzard to counter."

Eevee shot back into action, placing herself between the water attack and her partner to protect it. She let loose a frosty gust of snow, which wrapped around the torrent of water, freezing it in place and kept going to hit croconaw. "Now finish this off, shadow ball!"

The dark orb shot through the frozen water gun and finished off demolishing the croconaw ice sculpture. Sparkles coated over eevee's fur from the attack. "Pretty." Alex awed.

"Aw that was supposed to be our tenth straight win." " Oh well, we'll just have to start again. Thanks for the battle, bye!" The twins shouted, running off.

"Thanks eevee, you were absolutely amazing." Alex praised, and then turned to Paul. " As for you. That stunt you attempted to pull with that flame wheel was just plain stupid. You could have gotten your pokemon seriously hurt."

Paul looked at her for a few seconds. "Hn, whatever. I don't need you're opinion." He said stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking away.

"Fine then." Alex again started walking towards her next town.

She had arrived in Eterna, getting a new addition to her family and using it to win her forest badge. It was a very spunky, very quick totodile, Chomp. As she walked up to pick up her newly caught totodile's pokeball, though, the ground suddenly disappeared from under her feet and she fell.

"Ow." She groaned sitting up, eevee landing beside her. She waited for the expected annoying faces of team rocket to peer down at them, but they didn't appear. She sighed in relief.

The hole was too deep to get out, and the sides were too steep to climb. She was stuck. "Ok eevee, I'll give you a boost up to safety and I want you to go find help. Alright?" Alex asked the little fox as she picked her up. "1…2…3…" She heard eevee scampering at full speed away from her to find help. Alex coughed from the dust caking her dry throat and sat back down to wait.

It was a long time until she heard footsteps approaching and her eevee calling down to her. "Is somebody there?" she asked hopefully, covering her eyes at the blazing sun to glare upwards.

"Take my hand." A male voice said.

"Well gee that's helpful. I can't see a thing, how do you expect me to do that?" She asked with evident sarcasm.

"Do you want my help of not because your eevee seems to think you do." He grouched.

She sighed, "I'm sorry. It's been a bad day." She stood up and raised one of her hands to grasp someone else's. The mystery person gradually lifted her up until she was planted firmly back on her feet. She was slightly dizzy and blinded from the light and she held onto the persons shoulder for support.

"Paul?" she asked as her vision focused on the purplenette in front of her. His eyes were softer than usually and almost looked… worried? No, she must have been seeing things.

"Thank you so much, Paul." Alex gave him a small hug. He tensed slightly and she pulled back, taking her backpack from eevee. "Well, we best get going. Thanks again Paul." She waved, eevee resting on her shoulder and left, Paul watching after her.

Upon arriving at the pokemon center, she learned her journey would have to be put on hold as Professor Rowan asked her for assistance on a special mission. This traveling, though, gave her a chance to win 3 ribbons in back to back contests and challenge the Snowpoint City gym (which she lost to). It felt great to step into Veilstone City, especially since she lost in Snowpoint and the Hearthome gym being closed.

"WHAT?" She shouted to the man outside the gym.

"I'm sorry miss, but somebody is challenging the leader at the moment, you'll have to come back later." The black haired man in his karate uniform said.

Alex, eevee, and riolu dragged their feet away with glum faces as the sought out a way to kill time.

The city was fairly large, not overly crowded but not vacant either. It was comfortably populated with tourists visiting all of the attractions. The walkway was nicely paved and easy to walk though. Alex searched for any sign of excitement to keep them entertained for a while.

'_Oh no. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.'_ "Come on guys this way." Alex announced, turning abruptly on her heal.

"Alex? Alex is that you?" A voice called.

"Um… uh… Nope wrong person, gotta go." She tried to slip away but froze as the voice shouted. "ALEX!"

"Oh no, kill me now." She mumbled, jumping a wooden fence bordering somebody's yard. "Hey…"

* * *

Ok. So who was she trying to hide from? Any ideas? Reviews are greatly appreciated, so please review!

If you have any idea's for like a rival, friend, ect. that I should add to the story, e-mail me the info and I'll see what my mind comes up with =P.

Until next time, au revoir!


	9. Revenge is Sweet

**Pokémon**

Okie dokie. Well first of all Happy New Years everybody!!!! Now, let's see... oh yeah, the story. So, unfourtunatly I do not own Pokemon *sigh* but I do own Alex and Ryan. Let's mix things up a bit, shall we? I give you...... more Paul!!!

**Chapter # 9 – Revenge is Sweet **

"Wow, I didn't think you'd be here for a while." The young man was answered by a shrug from the other boy he had just let in his house. "Well this is great. I have a friend here I wanted you to meet." They walked through the house to the back yard where they stepped outside. " Sorry Ryan, I had to go…" He stopped seeing two brunettes glaring at each other in his field, fire in their eyes. The scared, young pokemon around them stopped their playing to watch the yelling teens.

"Who's Ryan?" The boy next to him asked curiously, his face in a frown as he examined the faces ofeach person.

"S'okay Reggie." The male brunette answered, tearing his eyes away from the girl.

"Who's Reggie?" The girl asked looking over as well. " Paul?!"

"Paul??" Ryan asked her.

"Alex?!" "Alex??" The purplenettes mimicked.

"Ok, hold on," Alex shook her head, "What are _you_ doing here?" she jabbed a finger roughly into her brother's chest.

He pushed her back. "Well this is my breeder friend of mine that I've been talking about visiting for a while, so now I am."

"How convenient." She rolled her eyes. "Ok, so what is Paul doing here?" She turned to him next.

"I'm coming to visit my brother, Reggie, while I'm in town." He answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "So what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm…" "She ran away from home." Ryan replied sending another glare her way.

"I did not run away! I just… left home without telling anybody except Gary. But it was your fault for being a selfish jerk." Her voice rose with every word, her hands balled into fists in anger and frustration.

He faltered slightly. He knew he was being selfish, but he wasn't willing to admit that to his sister. "Well, uh, fine then. Let's settle this with a one-on-one pokemon battle."

"Fine."

Paul and Reggie watched the two bicker and brawl. Alex's other pokemon stood a safe distance away from the group and watched as well. They decided it was safe enough to wander up beside their trainer.

"Pinser, let's battle!" Ryan called out a hard-shelled, brown bug with two spiked horns on its head. It snapped its razor sharp teeth and clamped its horns together.

Alex smirked and clutched her pokeball. "Houndoom, squash them like the bugs they are!" A large dog with short black fur, a red underbelly and snout, two curled horns, white bands around its back, ankles and neck, as well as a skull pendant emerged. Through its fanged mouth it let loose a hair-raising howl, its blood red eyes burned a hole in its opponent and its long, skinny, arrowhead tail lashed like a whip.

Ryan's jaw hit the ground, "Since when did you have houndoom with you!?" He had heard from Professor Oak that Alex had taken eevee, charizard and cubone, so how did she end up with another one of her best pokemon. _'Well, she does have a thing for fire types, so I should have expected her to take more than one with her.'_

"Gary brought him to me when he came to Sinnoh on a mission, since he was missing me an awful lot and giving the Professor some trouble. Lucky, no? Houndoom, use flamethrower!" Alex ordered.

Paul watched the two, but mostly Alex, impressed. She wasn't like all of the other girls that all cared only about how cute their pokemon were. No, she was strong, a fighter. Reggie glanced over at his brother and noticed how he was staring at the brunette girl. He smiled as an idea came to mind.

"So, how did you two meet?" Reggie asked.

Paul shrugged, quickly snapping out of his own thoughts. "She's the girl I told you about not too long ago, the one with the strong eevee."

"Yes! Thanks Houndoom, you were amazing." Alex hugged her dog as the battle ended, and her pokemon cheered from where they were perched on the wooden fence surrounding the field. Ryan returned his fainted bug to its pokeball with a sigh. Everybody looked over as a strike of lightning caused Alex's pokemon to tumble off the fence and land in a clump. Memories flooded through Alex's mind and her face grew dark again as she spotted the source of the attack.

"Whose electabuzz is that?" Alex growled.

"Mine." Paul answered. He saw her tense and dig her nails into her palms when her dark eyes glared up at it, one eye shadowed.

"Tell me, a long while ago, back around Sandgem town, did you and your electabuzz spot a flying red pokemon, and did you attack it?"

The question struck him as odd. _'How would she know about that?'_ he wondered. "…Yes."

"How would you like a battle?" She looked at him now, her gaze piercing through him like needles, filled with anger though he didn't know why.

"Fine." He answered with a smirk. "My pokemon could use the training." Electabuzz was all ready for a battle, confident in its power and trainer. Too confident she thought.

"Revenge time!" She sang tossing her pokeball. The ground under them rumbled as her furious red dragon, charizard, stomped and snorted smoke. It's blue and red wings spread out and flapped a few times, finally healed. Eletabuzz's eyes bulged at the size of its foe, fully intimidated. "That little trick you played that time ago left my charizard unable to fly, as its wings are its weak spot. It hasn't healed until about a week ago."

Paul's scowl softened slightly as he stared at her. For some reason he didn't know, he felt guilty about injuring her pokemon, even if it was by accident, kind of. It usually wouldn't bother him. As she explained what happened, her face showed pain as if she had felt what her charizard had, and it made him feel horrible. He saw his brother look at him like he knew something Paul didn't, and his scowl returned.

Reggie and Ryan were whispering back and forth to each other suspiciously, glancing between the two every once and a while. They nodded in satisfaction and turned to the battle. "If what Alex said was true, about charizard, then I'm sorry but electabuzz is way past burnt toast. Charizard is notorious for its temper."

The other shrugged, "I don't know, Paul's pretty strong."

"Now charizard, steel wing." Alex ordered. The attack wouldn't have been very effective, but charizard sped with white wings on a diagonal, one tearing up the ground and hitting electabuzz straight on. It was super fast for being so large.

Paul awoke from his own daze and called for his pokemon to attack with thunder. Charizard dodged with blinding speed and harshly stomped the ground, sending out an earthquake attack. Electabuzz jumped up to dodge, but charizard struck with a scorching overheat, and that was that. Electabuzz twitched on the ground, smoke steaming off its horribly burned body. Charizard roared triumphantly, beating his chest like Tarzan as Alex patted his rough skin. She walked over to Paul and electabuzz.

"Good battle, but never cross my charizard again." She smiled, holding out her hand for a friendly shake. Paul kept his eyes lowed and took her hand, muttering a small 'sorry' hoping it was inaudible, but she heard him just fine. Reggie and Ryan walked up to them, grinning hugely.

"What are you two grinning about?" Alex asked, slightly scared of the answer.

"Well first of all, Reggie owes me twenty dollars." Ryan smirked. Then, looking at each other, they said at exactly the same time, "And, we think you should travel together!"

"WHAT!?"

* * *

OMG what will she say??? What will he say??? What would you say???

Anyways, I'd love to hear from you, nothing rude please. If you have any characters you'd like me to add, tell me and I'll see what I can do!

For now, I bid you goodbye. Horray for the new year!


	10. Jerk Magnet

**Pokémon**

Hello everybody. So I was absolutely ecstatic when I saw how many people have been reading my story, and even more so when I saw that people were adding it to their favorites list or putting it on alert. Oh, and my two reviewers!!! Yayyy, I was so happy I almost cried. But, I would be even happier if I had more sooo... please review! Remember, reviews will make me want to update faster, and if you like my story then that means more Alex for you! Get it? Got it? Good.

**Now presenting... (drum roll) The awesome people that made my day!**

**KuraiNezumichan: **Thank you sooo much. I mean seriously, you have no idea how much your review made my day. I'm so glad you like the story! And sorry about the wait for the update. Sometimes I wondered if people actually liked the story or I was just writing for nobody, but at least I found out at least a couple who like it. xP

**KitsPokePeople: **Thanks! I'm glad you like Alex. Funny you should say that.... lol. Thanks for reviewing! You're awesome!

Okay, so I was kind of hoping to be able to post another chapter this week but now that I think about it, I highly doubt thats possible since so far I have two tests and two projects due, not to mention my piano homework and practicing. But, luckily I have most of next week off so I will most definitely update then and then... never mind, I'll tell you later. Now, story time!

**Chapter # 10 - Jerk Magnet**

"We think you should travel together!"

"What?!" Paul and Alex shouted. They shared a stunned glance, then gaped at their brothers.

"Wait, something's missing." Alex paused to fish out a bottle of water out of her backpack and took a long sip. "What?!" she shouted, spitting all of the water in her brothers bewildered face.

"Yeah, why not? You both travel alone most of the time so some company would be good for you." Reggie said. "Plus you two seem to be friends...ish, or at least you haven't killed each other yet…" Ryan added while wiping off Alex's saliva water that ran down his grimacing face. "So gross." He muttered.

"Well I don't see how that will work at all." Alex said crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

"And why would that be?" Demanded her brother.

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but Paul is probably going straight to the Pastoria City gym after he leaves here." After seeing Paul nod she continued. "Well before _I_ go there, I'm staying at Lake Valor for a few days, so there's no way that could work."

"Why Lake Valor?" Ryan inquired.

"Well, because the Wallace cup is being held there. You remember Wallace, top coordinator, used to be the Hoenn's Sootopolis gym leader, and Hoenn's master champion, well he's hosting it."

"But, if I remember correctly, Lake Valor is on the way back to Pastoria isn't it. You both could stay at Lake Valor and then head off to Pastoria after that." Reggie suggested.

"…. Yeah, I guess it is. Paul, what do you think?"

Paul remained quite through the whole exchange, thinking. He didn't travel with anybody because they would slow him down. But maybe, she could help him get stronger. Watching stupid contests were a downside, but he couldn't stop himself from saying, "Whatever, fine. Just don't get in my way."

Alex raised an eyebrow and stared at Paul as though he had magically grown two other heads. She had expected him to put up more of a fight for their independency. _'I swear you purple headed jerk, you better not be an ass to me or you'll be sorry. Hey, I think I said that to Gary once…*mental sigh* I'm like a jerk magnet.'_

"Great! Now Alex, Ryan, why don't you two stay at our house tonight and Paul and Alex can challenge the gym tomorrow."

"Sure, thanks." The brunettes said.

**~The next morning~**

Ryan woke up from his restful sleep and rolled over to check the time. It was 7am and bright sunlight poured in from the widow. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, also noticing his sister still peacefully resting in the bed next to his. He smirked. _'Guess I better wake her up. If she isn't up by now she must be in a __really__ deep sleep.'_

"Lexi." He whispered poking her. She didn't budge. "Lexi." He raised his voice slightly, poking her cheek. "Rise and shine Lex." He said, shaking her shoulders gently. This time, she turned onto her stomach, stuffing her face in the fluffy, white pillow. "Lexi!" Ryan said forcefully. "S'too early. Go back to sleep." Mumbled the drowsy brunette, rolling over to the point where she landed on the floor with a thud, taking all the blankets with her. She seemed unfazed and curled up on the floor amongst the warm covers, along with her eevee. "I didn't want to do this Alex. Plusle, shock wave."

*****

Reggie busied himself in the kitchen, making everybody a hefty breakfast. Paul watched him, eyeing the stairs to see when their two guests would finally decide to show themselves. He had wanted to go out and train before his gym battle, but his brother said it would be _rude_ and gave him one of the family glares, and even if an angry Reggie was a rare sight it was still horrifying, even to him.

"Hey Paul, do you think somebody should go wake those two up?" Asked Reggie. He was answered as there was a light thud followed by some crackling and a faint burning odor wafting over the breakfast aromas. "What the hell? Hey, you get back here!" Loud footsteps crashed down the stairwell and Alex landed on the floor before them, pinning her brother under her, one arm painfully held behind his back. Her hair fuzzed up on her head and her already black pajamas were slightly charred.

"You little – why I outta…" She gave an annoyed growl and stood up. A bright smile lit her face as she looked at Paul and Reggie. "Good morning," she waved, "I think I'll go get dressed now. Oh breakfast smells really good by the way." She sang skipping back upstairs.

They both blinked a couple times, confused. Ryan moaned, struggling to stand. He must have noticed the befuddled expressions on the brothers' faces for he said, "Get used to it. I'm going to go get dressed too."

Alex came down a half an hour later; her damp hair clung to her head and wetted the back of her jade top. She picked up a piece of toast off the table while saying "Good morning again, thanks for the breakfast Reggie, see ya later." She gave her trailing eevee the corner crust off the bread as they headed towards the door and slung her tan backpack onto her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Ryan asked trotting down the stairs.

"I can't wait for my gym battle so I'm going to get there as soon as it opens! Smell ya later Ry." Her eevee and her replied running out the door.

The small town was just starting to wake up as Alex arrived in front of the gym's glossy glass doors once again. Her serious face had returned and she confidently strode inside.

"Is anybody here? I'd like to have my gym battle now." Her voice echoed through the spacious gym.

**~ Back at Reggie's~**

Ryan finished a wonderful breakfast along with a quiet Paul and a chatty Reggie. "I wish Alex would have waited for us before she raced off to the gym. I wonder how she's doing." Ryan sighed.

As he said this, Paul stood up and made his way to the door.

"Where are you going Paul?" his brother inquired.

"Where do you think? The gym so I can get my badge and leave."

The two looked at each other before scrambling out the door after him, shouting, "Wait, we're coming with you!"

**~Back at the gym~**

Riolu watched intently as a battle raged on between it's own evolved form and his trainers cubone, Skull. He mirrored some of the movements they used, pretending to be in an intense fight as well. He wanted to become strong for his trainer and battle like all of the other pokemon. Eevee giggled beside him as he fell on his bottom and resembled a bewildered kitten that just toppled off its chair. He felt the presences of other people approaching the building, or the gym as his trainer called it, and turned to glance at the door. He recognized the three people who entered from yesterday, so he again focused on the battle.

Also by her trainer's side sat eevee, keeping an eye on the child next to her. She turned when he did as Alex's out of breath brother and friends tried to quietly take a seat to watch her. Her trainer didn't seem to notice as she was too into the battle. She knew they were in a good position at the time. Charizard and herself had taken out two of the pink-haired leaders pokemon without much trouble at all. Her muscles were itching to fight some more, but she was recalled to give Skull the chance to battle, and being the loyal little eevee she was, she obeyed. Although, she was ready to pounce at her trainers word.

Cubone slammed roughly into the ground. He glared at lucario as he shakily stood up. This was the last pokemon the leader had, and Alex had thought this would be an excellent time for him to appear in his first gym battle. He had trained a lot over the past few days, wanting to make Alex proud, and she was. He wasn't going to lose after both Isis (eevee) and Hotshot (charizard) had won. He looked back to see Alex and Isis smiling at him encouragingly, and little Aura fighting…the air. He conjured up a sandstorm and hit his opponent with very high effects. Both panted heavily.

"Lucario finish this off with aura sphere!" Maylene, the gym leader, called.

"Focus punch!" Cubone gathered up what was left of his energy and suddenly started glowing. He grew larger with some few other minor changes in shape until he stood as a marowak. The newly evolved pokemon ignored the sting from his wounds and ran forward, throwing his fist at the incoming attack to deflect it back at lucario. He watched as his opponent slammed into the wall and be announced, defeated.

"You were amazing Skull, take a long rest and we'll fix up your wounds as soon as we can." Alex whispered gently, returning her pokemon.

Only after she was awarded her badge did Alex notice her small audience. She grinned while holding up the badge for them to see.

Paul challenged the gym leader next and won effortlessly, no surprise there. As he received his badge, he said rather smugly, "You're the weakest leader I've ever fought." He played with the badge in his hand, "And this lightweight badge is just like you."

"Geez, that was a little harsh, Paul." Alex scolded as they exited the gym.

"Hn, it's true. Do you not agree?"

"…Whatever." She sighed.

After they healed their pokemon and Alex made a phone call to Professor Oak, Alex and Paul met up with their brothers to say goodbye.

"We're leaving. Bye." Paul said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking down the road.

Alex rolled her eyes, "Wow, what an emotional moment." Her brother chuckled and gave her hug. "I'll see you later Alex."

She hugged Reggie as well. "For Paul." She said at his quizzical expression. "Well, smell ya later." She winked and sprinted down the road Paul just had, exclaiming, "Paul, wait up!"

**~A few days later~**

Ever since they started traveling together, Alex and Paul hadn't really talked to each other all that much. Paul left her alone while she trained for the contest, and Alex seemed more irritable lately anyway. One day when she decided to take a break from training, she went to find Paul. She spotted him behind a bolder, watching something with a frown on his face.

"What are you doing?" She asked startling him a bit. Raising her brow, she peeked behind the large rock to see Ash's pikachu and some other dudes raichu battling. She shook her head. "Creeper." She muttered and giggled walking back into the woods.

Alex hadn't sleep well for the last several nights, she wasn't exactly sure why, but her mood was greatly affected by it. She thought it might be because she wasn't used to traveling with anybody, especially not one with a scowl permanently stuck on their face, never kept their pokemon out of their pokeballs unless they were training, so damn uptight and...cold. The fact that she was stressing about the contest wasn't helping matters either.

Alex sighed, getting up with a yawn and going back on the road, saying nothing to Paul as they left their campsite. She trudged her feet along the dusty path, barely able to keep her eyes open. Eevee felt like deadweight on her shoulder, forcing her to slightly hunch over. Paul was quite a ways ahead of her and as if finally noticing her sluggish pace, whipped around.

"Will you hurry up? You're holding me up from my gym battle, not only by your stupid contest, but also by walking so…damn…slow!" He snapped, turning back around and walking faster.

Alex stood frozen, glaring at the back of his stupid, purple, retreating head. _'Fine then, if that's how you feel. I'm too friggen tired to pick a fight right now. I bet you won't even notice that I'm gone. I'll just run up ahead, no need to bite my head off ' _She took another path and brought out her houndoom. "Hey Doom, can you get me to Port Valor please? Quietly though." She stifled a yawn, resting her head on the large dog's neck as she climbed on. Houndoom nodded and galloped off with his weary trainer.

**~Back with Paul~**

Paul briskly walked along the road to Lake Valor. He was starting to feel guilty about yelling at Alex. It wasn't like he didn't mean it, and she knew that right? She looked a mess though, her dark eyes drooped shut and purple bruises showed that she hadn't been sleeping well. Maybe he should have been helping her with her contest stuff or something, supporting her. _'God, now I'm starting to think like Ash, pathetic'._ But then, maybe she wouldn't have been so irritated. He guessed he didn't really mind going to the contest with her, even if it was a waste of his time. _'Shit, now I have to apologize' _

He brought himself to a halt, not turning around, "Look, I'm sorry alright? I shouldn't have said what I did."

Nothing.

"Alex?" He asked spinning his body to look behind him. _'Oh shit, now I've done it'_

* * *

Well, I'm super tired. Please review. Reviews are like fuel for my udates. But nobody likes a negitive nellie. Wow I need sleep so goodnight!


	11. Scares

**Pokemon**

I know I said I would update last week but I was enjoying my time off and I was kind of pissed...Ok, that's a bit of an understatment. I had no classes last week because of mid-term exams, and I only had to write ONE exam. It was math and I'm a natural at math so I thought it was pretty decent. Of course, only with my luck, I should learn that the one day that week I had to get up and go to school was January 28. My Birthday. Then I try to update my story, and it wouldn't let me! I'm not even going to re-live that...so as far as I can see everything is back to normal. Haha and then it's embarrassing to say, but I uploaded the document onto here, and then forgot to update my story -.-' ...hehe oops. I had also written two possible chapters for this and I hope I choose the better one. If it seems a little out of character I really don't care because I like it. Haha okay then.... my lovely reviewers!

**KuraiNezumichan:** Awww you are so nice! Thank you so much for the compliments, I'm super glad you like it. Lol it's a little slow getting here but here's the update.

**ThoughtlessRage:** Hehe, boys, so clueless sometimes right? Thanks so much! Only time will tell.

**Chapter # 11 - Scares**

Alex sat lazily in her room, twirling a spoon in one hand and holding a large container of ice cream in the other. She still wasn't sleeping the best, but knowing she was all ready for the upcoming contest eased her mind and gave her quality sleep at the very least. For the energy she was lacking, she made up by living on caffeine and sugar. Then she trained a bit, relaxed, and then attempted to sleep more again.

She loved her body, she could eat as much as she wanted and never gained any weight. But, despite her efforts, Alex's mood didn't improve. She was actually feeling slightly guilty about ditching jerk face on the way there, and to top it all off, she had a severe feeling of being watched. She shook this off however, as a side effect of everything else.

The big day was drawing near and she decided she some shopping might take her mind off things. As she carried her bags her nose led her over to a stand that was selling _huge, _yummy looking cookies. As she was about to rush into another boutique, she spotted a familiar face. It was May! Out of all the people Ash had met or traveled with, May was definitely the best in her opinion, and the two had easily became friends.

She watched her walk past and noticed that Ash, Brock and… the girl with the blue hair and too short mini-skirt were with her as well. She shrugged guessing she would see them later at the contest and ran off to buy some amazing seals for her performance.

_******* **_

Paul, could not find, her anywhere! He had even called out his honchkrow to aid him in his search. She could barely stand on her own two feet so how did she disappear so quickly? He finally got fed up with scouring the area multiple times to see if she passed out somewhere, and just decided to get to the pokemon center and hope she would turn up eventually. Now he felt _really _guilty.

*****

The crowd began cheering wildly as the event they had all been waiting for commenced. They were a sea of white hats like Wallace's, pokemon lovers and coordinators alike. Although, the most of the excitement was back stage, where everybody was hovering over a mirror to prepare themselves for their que, or nervously going over the routines in their heads like a nervous wreck.

Paul stood in the lobby of the pokemon center closely watching the television, along with other trainers as well, as the contests MC announced the starting of the contest. The sea of white hats roared into applause as soon as Wallace's name was spoken.

Alex weaved through the crowd of coordinators to find a seat where she could watch her competitors. It was rather hard to see much though over all of their heads. She wasn't one to get stage freight, or dress up like a Barbie doll, but tried to keep herself calm and relaxed.

First up in the appeals round was May and her wartortle. They seemed to set the bar pretty high with their performance, with Wallace's high praises. Zoey, whom Alex remembered from one of her other contests, was on not too far after with her finneon. She also received lots of praises on her beautiful beautifly of the sea.

"And now it's time for our next entry!"

"That's me. Buizel, I choose you!" _'Hey, I know that voice.' _Alex's eyes shot over to the screen. _'What the hell? Ash entered the contest too?' _She was shocked to see that his performance was actually pretty good, probably good enough to make it into the next round. _'His coordinator friend must have helped him. Oh well, he'll be history in the next stage.'_

"What does he think he's doing?" Paul asked himself as he watched his rival appear on stage.

Dawn was up next, looking completely nervous. That's most likely why as soon as she stepped on stage she tripped over her own two feet and fumbled her pokeball. She regained her balance though, and the rest of her routine went fine.

Alex walked down the dim-lighted, narrow hallway to the stage. She smirked as she saw Dawn walking in the opposite direction, breathing deeply to slow her heartbeat. "Well that was graceful, nice entrance." She mocked as she brushed past.

Dawn turned red as a tomato. "What was that?" she fumed. _'The nerve of that girl'_ She made it back to her friends, the red still tinted her cheeks. They all complimented her, but what the other girl said stung her.

"What's wrong Dawn? Still uneasy?" May asked concerned.

"It went ok, I think so." Dawn reassured her friends.

"And now for our last coordinator for the day!" The MC called.

"Here we go." She kissed her pokeball for good luck and jogged into the spotlight. "Mist, it's your time to shine!" The spinning pokeball opened as a pokemon, glowing white, jumped out. The glow clouded and dozens of tiny, white confetti flakes drifted to the ground, revealing the vaporeon within.

"Hey, look guys it's Alex!" May exclaimed happily, pointing at the screen.

"Okay, run on the water, melt and use your mist attack." The mermaid like pokemon melted herself into water molecules and galloped on top of the large pool, leaving a subtle fog in its path. The fog swept across the entire stadium, which was commented on by the MC.

"Aurora beam!" A flash radiated a rainbow of colors onto the fog, strongly resembling the northern lights. Vaporeon's silhouette danced on the water, its sleek fur glimmered attractively. Oohs and Awes echoed through the audients, and even the judges.

"Now to finish it off, icy wind!" Vaporeon stopped dead in the middle of the stage, summoning a frosty gust of wind to evaporate the aurora in a small tornado. The damp air settled to twinkle around the performers as they bowed. The crowd roared in applause, the judges gave her their very high praises as she walked back to the gloomy hallway, patting vaporeon.

'_Glad they liked it, it took a lont of effort to come up with.' _She beamed at her water pokemon. "Thank you so much Mist, that was perfect. Now, to wait for the results." She hated waiting. She made sure to avoid being seen by Ash's group, as she walked back into the backstage room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, but the judges have come to a decision. These are the coordinators moving to the next round!"

*****

Alex traipsed out of the arena, proud of her pokemon at making it to the second round. She was one of the first ones to leave, and she walked briskly as she started feeling paranoid again. Eevee stayed at the pokemon center, curled up on her bed while Alex went to the contest. One of those people were likely squish her thinking she was a nice fluffy pillow. She didn't feel safe or protected without her pokemon by her side. She nervously gazed about her to reassure herself nobody was there.

She finally decided to sit down at the base of a large tree and enjoy the afternoon rays. She pushed her paranoia to the back of her mind and cleared her mind. Unfortunately for her, she ended up dozing off…

A hand clamed down on her shoulder, causing Alex to jerk around and come face-to-face with crimson eyes. A rough hand covered her mouth to prevent her from calling out for help. She automatically reached to her belt for a pokeball, only to swipe at air. A deep rumble of what she could only make out as a dark laugh vibrated through the persons throat.

"Our leader has ordered your capture. Don't worry, we won't kill you, unless you can't deliver the information we request." His voice was definately unfriendly. Her eyes widened as a tiny amount of light revealed his appearance and she struggled again. He slammed her back against the tree…

She gasped sitting up, rubbing the forming bump on the back of her head. Her dark eyes darted around. _'It was all a dream…?'_ She stood up, noting how dark it was now, and started briskly walking.

Her sneakers thumped at a steady tempo on the cold concrete. She was nearly to the building bearing the fluorescent pink P on it. She held a deadly grip on the straps of her backpack. _'Almost there'_ She breathed.

Suddenly, a hand closed around her wrist. She tried franticly to tear it away but it held stronger. Just as she was about to shout out, another hand clamped over her mouth.

"Will you _calm down_?" The voice asked exasperatedly into her ear. She stopped her struggling and froze. She turned around to see if her suspicions were true. Sure enough they were, and she swiftly smacked them harshly on the back of the head before pulling them into a tight embrace and buried her face in their shoulder.

"There is a normal way to get somebody's attention you know, idiot." She said relieved, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. The person she held was too shocked to do anything.

"I…………..I'm…." They struggled.

Alex chuckled sadly, "The word's sorry, Paul. I suppose I am too." She sniffled slightly.

Standing like a cement statue, the surprised purplenette wasn't sure what to do. Alex, like him, didn't seem like the kind of person to show this much emotion. He awkwardly raised his arms to pat her back.

"Sorry." She muttered pulling away and wiping away her tears. "So, what are you doing here? I thought I was holding you back."

Paul's usually hard eyes softened slightly and he looked up at the sky to avoid her gaze. "…I was worried about you." He said as if it was obvious.

"Oh…well thank you, I guess." An awkward silence filled the air, but she decided to break it again. "So… now what?"

"Well, we'll stay for your contest and then we'll challenge the Pastoria City gym." Paul answered looking back down; an unnoticeable pink tainted his cheeks.

Alex smiled happily for the first time in a week. "Thanks Paul." She looked around to see they were standing in a dark, creepy alleyway. "We should probably go inside now." Paul nodded and let her lead him inside the pokemon center.

Neither of them noticed the silhouette of somebody watching them from a distance.

**Okay, I hope you liked it. It's really late right now...or early depending on the way you think about it. Anyways I'd appreciate at least 2 or 3 reviews before I post the next chapter. I know people are reading, but I'm not sure what their thinking. Is it so hard to click a review button and write your own opinion. Please, I love your reviews! Don't be a meanie though! Um, I think that's it for now. Review!!!**


	12. Water Loving Giant

**Pokémon**

Okay, I got like 5 reviews! That's a personal record for me, thanks a bunch! Wow, so, I have a little question for you at the bottom of the page in my side notes. If you would please have a look and give me your opinion it would be greatly appreciated. Um, that's about it so, to my lovely reviewers, you people rock!

**KitsPokePeople: **Thank you very much =) I try my best

**ThoughtlessRage:** You'll have to read to find out... and I suppose I have to write it first so you can ind out too, lol. Thanks for your review

**Althea Di Aerandaria:** Wow that's hard to spell. Thank you very much, i love being different =)

**radioactivehyena:** Haha, you know your input is always appreciated.

**XKyuubiDatenshiX:** Also very hard for me to spell =P Thanks for the very kind words

**Chapter # 12 - Water Loving Giant**

Alex stared out the window at the orange and red sunset with her eevee curled up on her lap. Paul lay on his bed, glancing at the girl occasionally. She had changed her normal outfit to a pair of turquoise shorts with a dark purple tank top, a black and blue yin and yang necklace hung loosely around her neck, matching her black and blue shoes.

She picked eevee up in her arms and headed towards the door. "I'll be back later, I'm going for a walk to clear my mind."

She walked outside of the center and into the cool, fresh air. She leaned against the railing overlooking the picturesque lake. It was a beautiful sight; the water was so clear that Port Valor reflected off the lake, making it look like there were two cities, one on top of the other. Eevee hopped out of Alex's arms to perch on the rail with her trainer.

After a few peaceful moments, a bright light glowed in the river, and a shadow of a pokemon floated gracefully in the air before going back into the beam it came. Alex and eevee blinked.

"Isis, you saw that too, right?"

"Ee." She nodded slowly.

"M'kay, that proves it, we're both going crazy. We've had too much excitement for one day, let's go back inside."

*****

Alex looked at the screen to see who her second battle victim would be. "Nice." She snickered at the cards' selection.

"Okay, for our next second stage battle, on the left, it's Alex. And on my right, it's Ash. The time limit is five minutes. Let's go!"

"Alex up against Ash? She better crush him." Paul grumbled, subconsciously griping Alex's eevee tighter to him. He would defiantly not travel with somebody who couldn't beat that pathetic loser.

Ash tried to keep his calm as one of his childhood rivals, and friends, stood across the stage from him, prepared for a battle. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, hidden under his black top hat. He had entered to help buizel become stronger and to have fun, but now he was also fighting to show her how strong he became.

"Tada. Buizel, I choose you!" Ash exclaimed. An orange weasel like pokemon confidently stood on his floating platform, arms crossed over his chest and eyes narrowed.

"Tempest, center stage!" called Alex. A long, blue, serpentine pokemon with a pure white belly and small unicorn horn dove out of a cloud of fluffy white smoke and into the pool. Water trickled down the dragons shimmering, sapphire-blue scales and the blue orbs under its neck and end of its tail. "Tempest, start us off with dragon pulse!" Dragonair charged up power in a large bluish orb.

"Buizel, use sonic boom!" The attack caused dragonair to be thrown out of the water and into the air. Ash smirked at Alex, only to see her shake her head and chuckle. Ash looked up to see dragonair flying directly above buizel.

"Now, finish your dragon rage please." Buizel got hit hard by the strong, but pretty attack and stood back up. "I know you too well Ash. Contests just aren't your thing. Tempest, use ice beam!"

"Okay go for it, use aqua jet!" Ash called.

"Huh?" Alex frowned as the water pokemon's water attack coated over with ice and proceeded to hit her blue dragon effectively. "Well that was new. Alright, use twister!" Dragonair recovered quickly and manipulated the water into a huge tycoon, trapping the orange fish within its rage.

"Oh no! Buizel use sonic boom to get out." His plan succeeded in freeing his pokemon, but Dragonair was ready and coiled around it like a snake to its prey. It squeezed tightly causing buizel to cry out in pain and lash out, attempting to get free.

"Finish this off, thunder." Dragonair's orbs shone bright yellow and cackled with electricity; its thunder lit up the entire arena dazzlingly. The dragon splashed back into the pool and the orange fish pokemon kneeled on a platform weakly.

"And our time is up. Moving on to the semi-finals is… Alex and dragonair!" Announced the MC.

"Yes! Awesome job Tempest." Alex cheered.

She watched as the other three semi-finalists were announced and saw whom she'd be up against.

*****

"Discharge now; dodge and then spark; use quick attack to evade! Okay guys that's good for now." A lion like pokemon landed on its paws and skidded back to a stop as the flurry of attacks against it had stopped. Its new trainer walked over and petted his black mane. "Not bad." Alex complimented her newest pokemon.

After losing the contest with mantyke, whom battled against May's beautifly in the semi-finals, she not long after ran into a sad little girl seated on a bench outside if the arena.

"Hey, what's the matter?" she asked taking a seat beside the slumped over girl.

The girl looked up in surprise, revealing a pokeball resting on her lap. "Oh, I was going to enter the contest, but while I was training my shinx it evolved into luxio. Now it won't listen to anything I say." She replied, returning to her depressed state.

"Hm, that is a problem." Alex mumbled, also looking at the pokeball in her hands. "Oh, I know! How about we trade? This pokemon I have here is a mantyke; it's really sweet. And an electric type sounds perfect for my next gym battle."

The young girl brightened considerably. "Really? You would do that?" She asked shyly.

"Of course!" Alex waved it off, holding her pokeball out for the young girl to take. She did, also handing back the luxio, and smiled widely.

"Thank you so much lady!" She side hugged Alex's waist tightly before merrily skipping away like there hadn't been anything wrong 5 minutes prior.

"Well, that's my good deed of the day. Being nice takes a lot of energy, I better find Paul so we can get something to eat."

Seeing as where the girl didn't train him a lot, Alex had to make up for lost time if she were to get him ready for the water type gym. She was on the path to Pastoria city with luxio, now known as Star, up against eevee, marowak and charizard, testing his agility and power. "Let's take a break you guys, return." Eevee and luxio remained to keep her company. "We should probably go and see where Paul ran off to." She sighed.

Luxio snarled at the mentioned name, not getting along well with the purple haired boy as he called the electric type pathetic, resulting in him getting a nasty shock. How's that for a weakling, Paul?

"Come on Star, he didn't mean that. You just have to get used to him." She said as they walked through the woods. Paul and her actually conversed now, even if it was just a fragment of a sentence, or one criticizing the other. He reminded her a lot of her best friend Gary, except slightly harsher.

She noticed luxio hissing across a stream of water, and found Paul on the other side. A drapion tunneled underground from her side, and the rumbling of the ground caused her to lose her balance and yelp as she landed in the chilly water. Paul was too busy watching a teary-eyed gligar fall from the sky to acknowledge her arrival.

Luxio whimpered and paced along the edge of the river. Alex surfaced, looking at it confused as it eyed the water warily. She splashed water in its direction and it swiftly jumped out of its way and shook with fear. With a sigh, she returned the pokemon and swam over to Paul, eevee right behind her.

"My clothes are soaked and I have an electric pokemon that's afraid of water. Wonderful." Alex grumbled while wringing out the water from her hair. "No worries Paul, I'm fine. Just going to put some dry clothes on." She said as Paul ignored her, unimpressed at the gligars disruption of his training. She walked back to their campsite, water dripping from her soggy clothes and hair.

Alex arrived back in time to watch a battle play out between Paul and Ash. She smiled as it brought back childhood memories of Ash, Gary and herself. Ash's chimchar went into an uncontrollable blaze affect, and the battle went unfinished as Paul walked away from his rival, leaving Alex to catch up to him.

*****

"Arg, why does it have to be the Marsh City?" Alex whined as her sneakers slightly sunk into the spongy ground, resulting in a gurgling each time she lifted her foot. Muddy water coated her new shoes as she tried to keep up with Paul. Eevee got to travel on her shoulder as soon as they hit the soggy terrain, lucky for her.

Paul shrugged indifferently, keeping a brisk pace as they drew nearer to the gym. Upon entering the building, they both were greeted by a boisterous voice, belonging to a giant man. He strongly resembled a masked wrestler with his spandex like, blue and black pants, orange boots, white cape and lastly, his mask.

"Welcome to my gym. I'm Crasher Wake!" He shouted, striking some kind of pose.

"The names Paul," "And I'm Alex." "We're here for a gym battle."

"Well then come on in, you're in the right place!" He replied with a booming laugh.

"…Any chance your related to ?" Alex asked, remembering her meeting with the giant, electric type gym leader of Vermillion City.

"Not that I know of." His laugh vibrated through her ears, "Now who will be my first challenger?"

_*********_

A wide pool separated Alex from the loud gym leader, several floatation devices spread out on its cerulean surface. Paul sat with a bored expression on his face, secretly quite content at the moment as he insisted Alex battle first so he would have the opportunity to analyze both battling styles.

The referee stated the rules, and signaled to start.

"Okay, Crasher Wake is in the house!" Shouted the water gym leader as he tore off his cape, leaving him shirtless and making Alex slightly uncomfortable. I mean, it is rather odd to battle a shirtless man. "Now, gyarados, on the water!" An intimidating light blue dragon emerged, almost reaching as high as the ceiling. It studied her with lavender eyes.

"Totodile, you're on." The small, blue, hyperactive crocodile hopped about excitedly, unfazed by the opponent it faced. "Please focus totodile. Use crunch."

"Gyarados underwater." Both pokemon dove under the blue depths, the quick totodile in pursuit of the large dragon, managing to clamp onto its tail. Gyarados roared up, flicking its tail back and forth to fling the large jawed pokemon off.

"Good totodile, now get on its back." The pokemon sprinted forward and leapt on the aqua scales of its opponent's sleek back. "Ice fang!" Gyarados bellowed in pain as a blanket of ice began forming. With a few attempts, it successfully slammed the tiny pokemon on its back into the cement wall of the pool leaving it knocked out.

Alex sighed while returning her pokemon. "Needs more training; good try totodile." She whispered. "Eevee, you're turn." The fox beside her nodded and jumped onto one of the many islands.

"Gyarados give it your dragon rage!"

"Destroy it with shadow ball, then blizzard!" The combination attack brought the dragon plunging into the water.

"Gyarados, you were great. Now quagsire, on the water." A rather simplistic looking, light blue fish jumped onto a platform opposing eevee.

'_This might be difficult, quagsire have a high pain threshold.'_ "Eevee, start us off with a shadow ball." The fish narrowly avoided the violet orb and dove straight into the pool.

"Sludge bomb." Called Wake. Dozens of mud bullets hit an unsuspecting eevee, causing her to topple back and land on a different island, shaking off the attack.

"Quick eevee, charge your energy!" Alex shouted to her partner. The little brown fox remained still and began gathering energy in her mouth.

"Ice beam." Quagsire leaped out of the pool water and directed a stream of ice at eevee, who jumped out of the way just before she got hit.

"Finish it now, solar beam!" With the gathered energy, she blasted the yellow beam as the final blow. Quagsire splashed belly up in the pool, and eevee landed back on a platform. She cried and flinched, with short breaths, and turned to look at her frozen hind leg. "Oh no eevee, come back and take it easy." Obediently, the fox leapt back over to her trainer's side.

"Wow, I must say I am impressed by your battling skills. But now it's time for my ultimate test. Floatzel, on the water!" The large, orange, sea otter like pokemon smirked smugly, bearing its sharp fangs.

"You're my best bet. Luxio, time for battle!" The blue, black and yellow lion was petrified being surrounded by water, but nonetheless snarled back at her opponent. "Luxio, spark."

"Dodge, floatzel, and use razor wind." The lion lunged at nothing but air as the orange fish appeared above it, its arm fins glowing white and slashing with a double bladed attack. Luxio howled and Alex bit her lip in thought.

"Bite!" She called out in aggravation.

"Bulk up."

'_Bulk up is a move that raises both attack and defense'_ "Luxio, stay back!" Alex cried before Wake shouted out for a whirlpool attack. It was too late and the scared feline was eaten by the vortex of water. She flailed hopelessly around, whimpering and crying, as her fur got waterlogged. Alex clutched her pokeball, starting to raise it for a return. As a final attempt, luxio discharged a great bolt of electricity to evaporate her cage. She landed on all four paws gracefully, ears laying flat on her head and fur bristled as she viciously shook the liquid off her body.

Alex cried out with joy as she saw the fainted floatzel being returned by his trainer, apparently getting electrocuted as well. "All right luxio!" She cheered; jumping over to the lion and wrapping her arms around her still soaked body.

"Alright Paul, it's your turn now!"

* * *

I'm pretty sure this is my longest chapter yet! Well, that's all for now. I really like getting reviews so please do so.

Also, I have a favor to ask. I'm not sure how many people read these little side notes, but if you're one of the people that do please tell me. In a battle between Paul vs. Gary, who would win and why? And please don't give an answer like "Because he's awesome." or something like that. Thanks and until next time.


	13. Old Friends, New Rivals

**Pokémon**

Bonjour! Ok, first of all, I am really sorry. It's been a month since I've updated and I feel bad, in more ways than one. Bad news is I'm not feeling well again, good news is that I might be posting another story soon, but that's not a definate. Truth is, I've had this written for a while but never posted it. Again, very sorry.

In other news, thank you to the reviewers that gave their opinion to my question in the last chapter. I really appreciate it. Now, please forgive my horrible updating ways.

**Chapter # 13 – Old Friends, New Rivals**

Paul and Alex each walked out with a Fen badge in both of their possessions. "Can we leave now? This place is too mucky for my taste." Alex said hopefully, eyeing her muddy shoes and showing her distaste with a slight curl of her nose.

With a silent answer, Paul leading the way, they drew nearer the border of the city. Happily, Alex ran forward to the edge of the city. But, apparently fate wanted her to stay in town and as soon as she placed a foot over the city's border, the livid clouds hanging in the sky broke like a huge water balloon. A gale of wind slashed the stinging pellets into their faces. Thunder and lightning cackled viciously. Vision got very limited for the pair of travelers, so both sprinted back to the pokemon center to take shelter.

"Everybody, I'm sorry to inform you that an unexpected storm has hit our city." Nurse Joy stated over the worried voices throughout the center.

"N-no r-rea-lly?" Alex mumbled sarcastically as tremors quaked her body while she attempted to warm herself by the fire.

"I would advise all of you to remain in the pokemon center until it has died down enough for safe journeys. Now if would please form a line I will assign each group of travelers a room for the night. Some of you traveling alone may be required to share. Thank you." With that, almost everybody jumped up and elbowed their way into line. It was going to be a long night.

*****

Paul and Alex stood in the entrance of their room, eyeing the contents, or lack there of, unhappily. All of the double-bedded rooms had quickly been reserved leaving Alex and Paul with one, fair sized bed, not even an extra couch.

"You have got to be kidding." Paul snarled.

"Yeah, well I don't like it any better than you." Alex replied, tossing her backpack at the base of the bed. "But I want to get out of this town with as little pain as possible. I'm tired, my clothes are still damp and I hate this stupid place. So, I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. If you stay on your side of the bed and I stay on mine we should be good. Ok? I thought so." She slammed the bathroom door shut to finish her rant, leaving no room for objections.

She emerged after a much needed, relaxing shower about 15 minutes later, fluffing her long chocolate hair dry. She had put on a pair of light blue pajama shorts with purple pinstripes, and a lavender tank top while her regular clothes dried out over the heater. A tiny yawn escaped her lips as she threw her towel beside her backpack.

Paul was nearly asleep by the time, arms resting behind his head. He had taken off his sweater, leaving him in a simple black t-shirt and track pants. She laughed as she watched him slowly drifting off to sleep. He didn't look nearly as grumpy while he was in this state.

She quietly called out her eevee, who had taken cover in her pokeball during the downpour. Snuggling the little fox close to her body like a cuddly, stuffed animal, she climbed into the space on the bed Paul had left for her.

The rained pounded harshly against the windows, and every few minutes a flash would brighten the grim sky, followed by a sharp crack. While listening to the storm attacking the city, Alex finally drifted off.

Everything felt cold. Even under her thick blankets, the cold still managed to surround her. A massive storm had reached the little town of Pallet; winds howled through the trees leaving threatening shadows on her walls, dark, menacing branches like hands reaching in to grab her, and the menacing thunder like the sound effects in a horror movie.

The little girl buried herself farther down in the depths of her bed, trying to rid herself of everything. Something, to her, didn't feel exactly right. It seemed as though the storm was working to cover something else up. A whimper went unheard as a clap of thunder vibrated the house.

_The warm blankets were suddenly ripped off of her. She shrieked as tears began to flow from her dark eyes. "Daddy?" She whimpered at the dark figure lingering above her._

_She could tell the man's face contorted into a toothy sneer. Even in the dark she knew this dark, red-eyed man was not her father. "You're daddy's not here anymore little girl." A flash or lightning granted her a better view of his face, and she screamed an ear-piercing scream. This seemed to amuse the man farther as he cackled._

_A siren rang in the nearby distance. The man stopped short, looking out the window. He brought a cold hand to the child's cheek, and whispered, "We will meet again." He then flew out of the room as fast as he came. Her brother, not even seeing the man, ran into her room seconds later and rushed to hug his sobbing sister. She looked up to find his face was as tear stained as her own. _

"_I can't find mommy or daddy!" He managed through sobs. Both clutched to each other until the police found them huddled in the small room. They were taken to Mrs. Ketchum's house to spend to rest of the night. The tall, redheaded woman clutched both children like a lifeline. The little, fear-struck girl numbly embraced the mother like figure with all her might, horrid thoughts swimming though her mind of the reality of what was happening._

Paul awoke abruptly, feeling pressure around his torso. He glanced over to find his traveling companion holding him in a death grip. Her eyes flittered as a sign of her dreaming, and with the expression of her face he guessed it wasn't a pleasant one. She was breathing deeply, and tears were trying to escape from under her lashes and closed eyelids.

Alex's eyes shot wide open and she bolted upright into a sitting position, both hands clapping over her mouth to suppress a gasp. After wildly searching her surroundings, she took a shaky breath of relief and cradled her head in her hands. She whimpered and trembled, as there was another roar of thunder.

"You were having a nightmare." Alex let out a startled yelp, failing to realize Paul was awake. She would have fallen off of the edge of the bed if Paul hadn't held her in place, wrapping an arm around her small waist.

"Yeah, so what?" She snapped, wrenching herself out of Paul's reach and attacking her tears with the bottom of her shirt, spotting it with dark specks. Eevee arose from the foot of the bed as well, noticing her trainer's discomfort.

"Is that why you haven't been sleeping well?" Paul asked, oddly concerned. He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, to which she jumped completely off the bed.

"What's it to you?!" Alex stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She needed coffee, badly!

_******* **_

The next day brought the city a cheery sun, completely opposing Alex's current mood. Last nights nightmare was the worst one yet. She usually had little flashes of different scenes, but the storm last night must have dug up old memories of that one horrible, tragic night way back. Paul was walking behind the edgier, sharp-tongued girl, leaving her to her thoughts. Every few minutes she woould mutter quietly to herself, sounding like a string of profanities.

They walked even faster than usual, but the unusual, un-comfortable silence made the journey drag on. Even Alex's little eevee was safely tucked in her pokeball, away from her trainer's wrath. An uncontrollably large yawn came from the agitated girl, as she slowly started coming off her sugar/caffeine high. "Why, why must this happen to me, why now?" she mumbled annoyed, digging through her backpack for another candy bar.

"You know, talking to yourself is one of the first signs that somebody's going crazy." Paul stated, eyes closed, hands stuffed in his pockets as he caught up to her.

An un-audible reply made him smirk. "Are you acknowledging this, or are you just too scared to say something to my face?"

"I said screw you, you stupid, think-you-know-it all, son of a… oof." Alex hit the ground hard, taking all of her breath with the fall. An umbreon sat innocently on her chest, looking at her expectantly.

"It's an umbreon." Paul said, remotely surprised but not showing it.

"No duh. I figured that…much… This isn't just any umbreon." Alex sat up, hugging the black dog like pokemon and whipping around excitedly. Just as she expected, not too far away, a head of spiky brown hair caught her dark eyes. Paul was confused at her bipolarness; first she was steaming mad and now she looks like a little kid at Christmas. What had her so excited?

"GARE-BEAR!!!" She shrieked, hopping up and racing into the boy's arms. He caught her around the waist, lifting her off the ground and spun her in circles, laughing happily. Paul approached the two in a normal pace, eyeing the boy holding his traveling partner with his harsh glare. They seemed not to notice him as Gary nuzzled into her silky, chocolate hair.

"Miss me my little Lexi?" He teased, tickling her sides lightly, earning another joyful laugh and a hand swat.

Pulling away from the long embrace, smiled up at the spiky haired boy. "Oh my gosh, yes! What are you doing here?" Alex demanded, bouncing up and down like an impatient 5 year old, the largest smile imaginable adorning her face.

Gary placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her still. "I was just doing some more research for Gramps." He responded, a tad smugly. He finally looked up to see the purplenette boring holes into his head, and responded with a smirk.

Noticing Gary wasn't paying attention to her anymore, Alex looked back and forth between the two boys, who were now engaged in a staring contest. "Um, Paul, this is Gary. Gary, this is my traveling partner Paul." Neither acknowledged her, but rather still stared at each other; Gary smirking with his arm around Alex's shoulders, and Paul's lips pulled into a hard line. Her eyes squinted as she watched them both, wondering what she was missing. "…Yeah, ok I'll be over there after you guys are done with, whatever." She said, giving her attention back to the black and golden ringed pokemon.

"Umbreon." It chirped happily as Alex let eevee out to greet her evolved friend. They both lapped up the attention they were getting from the girl, rubbing against her legs.

Gary raised an eyebrow at Paul, unfolding his crossed arms slowly. "It's nice to meet you, _Paul_." He spoke in a mocking tone, causing a low growl to emit from Paul's throat threateningly and his scowl to increase in bitterness, if it was at all possible.

"Hn, whatever. You seem pretty confident in yourself. So, wanna battle?" Paul asked in his usual cold tone.

"Sure, but don't cry when ya lose." Gary stuck his nose up arrogantly, but not losing eye contact. "After all, I am the grandson of _the_ Professor Oak."

"We'll see whose crying after I'm finished. It will be a three-on-three battle with no substitutions. The first one with two wins is the winner. Got it?"

"Fine, we'll go along with your little rules. Doesn't change who the winner will be; me."

"What is up with them?" Alex asked the two pokemon before her, watching the glaring, the back and forth bickering, the harsh handshake that looked more like a contest to see who could break the other's hand before retreating to opposite sides of the forest.

"Lexi…" Gary said, turning to the girl. She pouted out her bottom lip.

"Fine." She drawled out, pulling herself to a standing position. "Umbreon, good luck." She patted his head as he hopped onto his trainer's side of the field. "You both know the rules. Blah, blah, blah, begin." Alex called out with little to no interest, moving to sit cross-legged where the referee would stand.

"No need for a referee, this battle will be over quick. Ursauring, stand by for battle." Paul half snarled over at the brunette boy.

"Let's show them, umbreon." And the battle ensued.

* * *

**So, as you can probably tell, my question is still open so if you didn't get your opinion in the last time, now is your chance. It is now 1 in the morning and I have school so I think it would be a good idea to go to bed now. R&R!**


	14. Let the Games Begin

**Pokémon**

I am not dead! *Ahem* Just thought I'd clarify. Well, first I had major writers block (which I have never had problems with so it was very hard to deal with. If you have any tips that could help in the future I'd appreciate it!) so it took a while to get an idea. When I did get the idea, then I had to figure out how it was going to be written, which again took a while to work out. It's pretty funny though; I get my best ideas randomly while sitting in church on Sunday mornings XP thank you God!

So, I am terribly sorry if the scene switches are confusing. I wasn't sure how to write this so I just kind of let my fingers run on their own. And, if there are any weird spelling or grammar errors, I'm also sorry but Word is being extremely stupid and annoying. It is telling me to fix things incorrectly, so I'm crossing my fingers that I didn't miss anything. Oh, and I decided to update now because if I didn't, then it would have been another month that I didn't update. Countdown: 9 days until my Quebec trip!

Aww 3 you're guys' reviews were so sweet. They make me feel all nice and warm inside. You are the best, you people that reviewed! You all deserve yummy cookies for making my self-esteem sky rocket. Thank you so much!

I'm hoping I didn't miss anything... I always forget what I'm going to write in these author's notes...

I think I need your help again. Please read the author's note at the end of the chapter and review or message me. It would be a great help. :)

**Chapter # 14 - Let the games begin**

It was dark, very dark. Trees loomed high above the ground in the ghostly tranquil forest. Not a creature was stirring from their deep sleep. The moon offered no light for any travelers, but was being obscured by gloomy, dreary clouds. It was like being stuck in a nightmare, giving you an unnerved feeling and chilling goose bumps up your arms.

But while most were sleeping, a brave girl and her eevee cautiously walked through, careful not to make a peep. They followed in the path of a dim beam of light produced by the girl's flashlight. They were alone in the pitch black of night wearing grim faces.

The farther and longer they walked, the darker and creepier the surroundings got. The girl was beginning to feel a dull ache in the pit of her stomach as she once again looked down at her compass. They were fast approaching.

By now, the trees had started to thin. A tall, barrier made of rock and reassured with electric wires glared down at them. It covered a suspiciously large area of ground and it seemed odd something that took up so much space could go unnoticed by the authorities.

The girl walked up to the menacing barricade where it opened up and you could visibly see the electric current flowing from one side of the entrance to the other. The path was blocked no matter which way you looked at it; there was only one way in and out.

Two shady figures stepped up to the gate, although on the opposite side of the girl. All she could see was their outlines and the midnight black suits they wore. They eyed her and her pokemon skeptically.

"Password?" Demanded the pair, one a deep bass voice and the other a monotonous feminine one.

"Black Knights." The girl responded automatically and colorlessly.

"…"

The two were silent until the female decided to step up. "Who are you?"

"I am Shadow." The girl replied, her inky bangs covering her eyes. She gestured her hand downwards to her eevee. "And this is Rebel."

The pair scanned the two over with sharp eyes. The girl was young, but not too young with thick, jet-black hair falling down the middle of her back and over her eyes. A knee-length, long sleeved, black dress clung nicely to her body before floating away at the hips, and pointed toe boots climbed up to just under her kneecaps in, who would have guessed it, black.

Now, this was no ordinary looking eevee either. Instead of a rich brown, its fur was as black as the night sky, and its collar and tip of its tail a smoky gray. It glared at them with evil, red eyes and bared its fangs in a snarl.

"Very well, Shadow. We have been expecting you. Please, follow us."

The entrance was opened for the gothic girl and her frightening fox to enter. She followed the two gatekeepers beyond the barriers that kept its unwanted visitors at bay and the side up her lips curved upward into a tiny, dangerous smirk.

* * *

**_REWIND_**

The sky was a baby blue, littered with milky, cotton-like clouds. The air was still and thick as honey. Determination and bitterness rolled off the two boys in waves. Beads of sweat formed on their brows; they stood shooting needles from their eyes and the gears in their heads working in overdrive.

A black and yellow dog growled, its front legs bent and spread in an odd crouch. The big, brown bear mocked the smaller pokemon with a roaring laugh and a beckoning of its clawed bear paws.

"Umbreon, start us out with sand attack." Umbreon kicked up his hind legs and clouded vision with dust. "Shadow ball!" A dark orb grew in front of the black dog's mouth and flew with good precision and speed at its opponent.

"Catch that." Paul commanded harshly.

The huge bear extended its paws in front of it, showing him catching it with ease. He threw it back at the attacker, who also dodged with quick leap into the air. Umbreon twirled gracefully and landed on its nimble paws.

"Now, ursaring, use hyperbeam."

A great amount of energy stored up in the bear's mouth, glowing a bright orange. It completely charged and blasted the beam at umbreon.

"Umbreon, psychic!" Called Gary.

Umbreon's eyes glazed over with a light blue shade and stopped the beam in its tracks, then separated it into random directions. Ursaring needed time to recharge after the vigorous attack.

The brunette called another attack. There was a blinding flash of light erupting from umbreon, dazing the over-sized bear, and it stumbled a few steps backwards.

Rage flickered through ursaring's eyes and it started randomly throwing its claws around. It spun and thrashed about, comically waving its arms in the air, missing its intended target by a long shot.

"Ha-ha, looks like the over-grown teddy bear is confused." Gary chided in a superior voice. "Umbreon, quick attack."

The dog pounced, building up major speed with its feather light leaps. Barely visible to the human eye, umbreon zipped through the battlefield in a shadowy blur.

"Ursaring, snap out of it _now_ and use hammer arm!" Paul gritted out through his teeth, seething with anger directed to the smug brunette boy.

The bear stopped in its tracks as if finally waking up after a long nap and saw the black dog racing at it with incredible agility. Its blood boiled. The white in its eyes glazed over with a fiery red. With glowing arms and perfect precision, it slammed umbreon into the ground. Dust cleared off to a gaping hole in the ground and lying in the middle of the rubbish was a knocked out umbreon.

"Umbreon!" Both Alex and Gary cried. The latter let Alex run over to the tired pokemon and pick it up gingerly.

"Umbreon is unable to continue. Ursaring is the winner." She announced, sadly gazing at the black dog that now rested in her lap to the side of the field. "Please, choose your next pokemon."

Ursaring was recalled from the field.

"Alright then, let's see how ya like this. Come on, blastoise!" The large, turtle-like pokemon flexed its arms as it appeared. Standing on two feet, a gray shell sat on its back with two cannons protruding from the top of both sides. Its body was a deep blue.

"Fine. Torterra, stand by for battle." A pokemon with sort of a turtle-shaped body roared, half its shell growing a tree branch, the other with a few gray spikes. It stood on all fours. Most of its monstrous body was a dirt brown and leafy green. Two gray spikes also protruded from the sides of its head.

Gary, with his type disadvantage, gritted his teeth. The two powerhouses went at it, pretty near destroying the field. Large tunneling holes ran through the earthy floor like muddy trenches. Giant plant stems lay cut up on the ground. A clutter of rocks jutted from the ground. In the end, the friendship between Gary and his starter barely scrapped them out with a win. Both withdrew their pokemon.

Paul's hands were clenching and unclenching with rising anger. This intruder thought he was so great, waltzing in with his smug smile, challenging _him_, trying to steal _his_ Alex.

Wait, _his_ Alex? No, he just cared because she could help him become stronger. That was it, right?

"Electabuzz, stand by for battle!" His electric pokemon beat its yellow chest in a Tarzan manner as it was called out. Paul smirked. _Try to beat my second best pokemon!_

His smirk faultered though, as Gary stuck his nose up arrogantly in the air after briefly glancing over the pokemon. He pulled his pokeball out, twirling it on the tip of his pointer-finger. "You really think you can beat me with that, emo-kid? Come on."

_Emo-kid? _Paul's eye twitched. Enough was enough! He was Paul and he would _never_ lose to somebody as pathetic as this dude. "Oh, and I suppose you have something so much better." Paul answered coolly.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Gary bragged, tossing the red and white ball in the air. Eletravire appeared, eyeing its pre-evolution lazily. The brunette smirked again. "Are you sure you don't wanna just give up now? It will save you the embarrassment." He snickered behind his hand.

"Whatever. Just fight."

Electricity flew. It danced over the ground and through the dry air. Each pokemon's attacks were very ineffective, but that didn't deter the trainers that had too much dignity and overly inflated egos to give in. This is what made both pokemon fall in exhaustion.

"Yours fell first!" Each shouted at the other. "Did not!" They mimicked their actions perfectly. "Alex!" They barked, gazing toward her spot. But something was missing…

"Hey, where's Lexi?" Gary asked in shock.

"Not again." Snarled a foul-mood Paul.

"So I'm assuming this has happened before?" Gary asked with a raised brow, walking over to his umbreon lying in the spot she used to be. Most of its wounds were healed, but it was much need of a rest. Alex's backpack was no longer lounging by the tree, but gone as well.

"Hn." Paul grunted while stalking away in fury.

* * *

**_Forward again_**

Heavy, iron doors creaked open for the dark trio with its ancient duskull knocker hanging on the front. The girl followed the two gatekeepers down the dimly lit hallway with variety colored flame torches illuminating the path. Haunting cackles echoed off the chilly, stony walls. They were deathly quiet.

Another set of oversized double doors opened up for them and the two leaders stepped aside and bowed to let the girl and her fox glide in.

"Ah, my new Shadow is here, is she?" Asked a caped figure to their gengar with their back facing the girl. In a large sweeping movement, the person did a 180 turn and gracefully, as if they were floating, strode over to the girl.

The figure was definitely female, a silky midnight purple cloak hanging over her slim shoulders and dragging along behind her as she walked. Her hood shadowed over her chalky white skin with strands of raven hair peeking from the sides. Her voice was a spooky whisper, unwavering with implied authority.

"Welcome to my home. I am the Grim Reaper." She said, stopping in front of her guest. Her gengar poked its head out from behind her legs and made a disturbing face before vanishing and roaring in laughter.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. As you know, my name is Shadow and this is Rebel." The girl replied with a stoic mask and a low bow. She straightened again, carefully watching the ghost obsessed girl. The girl was observing her as well in the black light.

"Of course. Let me show you to you're room now. Tomorrow night you shall start doing simple tasks until we know we can trust you. Remember, the ghosts will always be watching you." She left, leaving the girl at the entrance to her new room.

It was blindingly dark and cold, like being in a bat cave. Shadow lit all of the torches she could find, letting the extremely dim flames flicker on the dingy walls. The snickering of sneaking ghosts still haunted her in the cave-like room. A coffin bed stood perched against a corner of the walls in an odd looking angle. There was also a more comfortable black leather sofa, a full-length mirror caked with dust, stringy cobwebs and spreading cracks, and a simple black wardrobe.

The gothic dressed girl neatly set everything down, unpacking most of her belongings. Once satisfied it would suit, she fell onto the couch with a sharp squeak if the material.

"Let the games…begin."

* * *

Okay, so think of this as a contest of sorts. I need a name for an evil group of people like Team Rocket, Team Galactic, ect. Be original, be creative! The person that comes up with the name that I like the best will be my star reviewer of all time! Piano girl does not think any ideas are stupid (to an extent) and does not bite (hard), and would really like your help with this matter. Also, if you could think of a rival for Alex too, that would be good...


	15. Now, We're Screwed

**Pokémon**

Bonjour, mes amis! I am back from Quebec and school is officially out for the summer! Now, I would like to thank everybody that reviewed, and a very special thanks to...

**KitsPokePeople and .**! Let's give them a round of applause, shall we? Without their help I would still be waiting for a lovely idea to come strolling by. But anyway, thanks to the extremely nice reviewers as well! ~Cookies for everyone!~

And now I present to you...

**Chapter #15 – ****Now, we're screwed**

Paul reached Hearthome City after a long day of scuttling through the trees and bushes in an unusually quickened pace. His forehead creased in a bitter frown and his brutal black eyes glared at anything that moved, basically everything. The pockets that his hands were shoved into were being stretched as his balled fists drove themselves deeper.

The city people took a lingering glance at the fuming boy before making themselves scarce at the sight of his razor-sharp, evil eye. Even the bubbly Nurse Joy was startled at the chagrin pouring off the purple-headed boy. She stuttered her greeting, wishing she could scurry away like all the others had. Everything was absolutely silent.

"Take care of my pokemon. And tell me you've seen a girl with brown hair and an eevee come by here." Paul demanded sternly, not at all hiding the fact he was pissed.

With a squeak from the nervous Nurse, she thrust the boy's pokeballs to the awaiting chansey, whom waddled off as fast as its stubby legs would allow it. She avoided eye contact by pretending to be busily typing on her computer, but replied in a high, hysterical voice, "I-I'm sorry, but I haven't seen anybody by that description -"

Paul's hands slammed down on the counter. "Think harder! She _had_ to have come by here. Where else would she have gone?" He yelled, sure that smoke was snorting from his nostrils and his eyes were ablaze, almost like a raging bull. He was far beyond mad, or even furious. He couldn't even think of a word to describe what he felt.

With the Center so quiet that you could hear a pokeball drop, Nurse Joy chanced a glance to the glass door with watery, pink eyes. The glass doors had slid open and the squeaking of sneakers walked over the smooth, cement surface.

"M-Mr. Gary Oak? You have a message waiting for you. I-I was under the impression it was rather urgent." Said the shaking Nurse Joy as she pointed over to a phone. She looked back down to her white nurses shoes and high-tailed it to the back room to check on the purplenette's pokemon.

The Professor's grandson casually went to the green device and answered his pending call. After a few seconds a face familiar to the both of them appeared on the screen. Paul's anger diminished a fraction as curiosity took over and he strode over after deciding maybe it was beneficial to listen in as well.

The raven-haired girl arose from the coffin like a vampire, awaking as soon as the night's shadows sunk into the sky and the moon materialized from its nap. She stretched her stiff muscles from the uncomfortable position and awkward angle in which she had slept. She stepped out of the confined space and smoothed out the non-existing wrinkles from her black dress. As her eyes adjusted, she found the outline of her fluffy fox curled up in a ball beside the door like an obedient watchdog.

The torches flickered alight as she began to pace, squinting at her reflection in the cracked mirror. Her long hair was in a chaotic mess on top of her head and she looked like she actually had just managed to crawl out from her deathbed as her cold fingers brushed over the gloomy bags looming under her fatigued eyes.

She reached for the front drawer of the wardrobe to grab a brush, leaning on the side for support. Eevee's growl delayed her movement for a fraction of a second. The black fox had jolted up as Shadow's hand inched open the drawer.

"Rebel, what's wrong with you?" She snapped dangerously as her touchy mood decided to flare up unnecessarily. As her fingers closed around the object, a bolt of electricity shocked her, causing her to yell a painful 'ouch' and release her hold. A dark eye twitched, watching a tiny, red pokemon with baby blue lightning bolts on its sides and dark, buggish eyes floated out. It giggled at her with a mischievous grin.

"_Rotom, the electric/ghost pokemon. Rotom loves to play practical jokes by embedding its plasma body in electronic devices." _The robotic voice of her pokedex narrated from under eevee's paw, while the ghost pokemon mocked it.

Another ghost, as big as Shadow's eevee, appeared in the center of the room from thin air and began scolding the red one. Its body was a teal with purple running through the tips of its hair. Its eyes were a pale yellow instead of white with red irises, and what looked like a ruby pendant with multiple red jewels were placed around its neck.

"Misdreavus, the screech pokemon. It has an extremely mischievous nature and likes to pull people's hair and cry out at night just to scare them."

The rotom sighed and levitated through the wall just in time, as Shadow was forming a not-so-nice plan to show the little lightning rod whom not to prank. The misdreavus bobbed right behind it, still babbling away.

Shadow grunted, looking at the even worse monstrosity puffed up with static electricity piled on her skull. Taking the utensil back in her stinging hand, she tugged it harshly through her hair until it was silky smooth and her scalp hurt. Something pulled on a strand of her hair, causing her to wince and eevee to snarl.

"Just ignore it Rebel, it's not one of her pokemon. That rotom was spying on us, but it seems as though this one shooed it away. It doesn't want to cause any harm so let's go before Her Darkness gets a whole army of ghosts chasing after us." Shadow strained as she detached herself from the misdreavus and left with her fox.

"Ah, so my Shadow finally arrives, does she gengar? Well good evening. Are you ready to get started? First you should get to know the rest of the team. Follow me." The Grim Reaper whispered.

Shadow, noticing the bothersome, hair-pulling, wild pokemon had stopped stalking her as soon as she walked into the Reapers main room, briskly followed at the girl's heals until the entered a sitting room type chamber.

A chandelier hung from the high ceiling with black flames for lighting and sapphire gems dangled like crystallized raindrops. There were several black-leather sofas, the same as in her room, facing a shrine built for the ghost pokemon living in the mansion. A gengar statue was proudly perched on the very tip-top.

Two people sat lounging in the gloomy chamber, talking in hushed whispers. Shadow recognized them almost instantly as the pair that had oh- so kindly welcomed her at the gate. They stood and bowed to the 'leader' of the house, the Grim Reaper, but didn't share the same enthusiasm while greeting their new team member.

"Shadow, this is Bones," she gestured a spidery hand to the feminine one, "And this is Bull. Please get to know our newest guest." Her monotone voice echoed through the ears as they were left alone in the room.

Bull was a tall, slightly pudgy man with a hard face and rather frightening muscles. His black hair was cropped close to his head and his squinty, gray eyes scrutinized Shadow. Unlike the girls, he was actually well tanned, but still wore dark clothes, which in his case were a navy muscle shirt with dark-washed jeans and black, combat boots. "Ya look rather young teh be in a place like this." He finally said in a deep, annoyed, and heavily accented voice.

"Come on Bull, I was about the same age as her when I got in, and she looks as old as Chaos." Bones reasoned with the man. She was just a bit older than Shadow by a few years with shoulder-length, crimson hair and brownish-red eyes. Her skin on her face was almost glowing in the dark it was so pale, but her arms and hands were covered by a long-sleeved gray shirt with a black skull and crossbones, and black gloves. A short, red and black tartan skirt hung from her extremely skinny waist and red stockings clothed her legs to her black ankle-boots. Bright red painted lips smirked at the newcomer as she held out a slender hand. "Nice to meet you. Call me Bones."

Shadow cautiously took the girl's hand, not sure of what to expect. She seemed nice enough, but it could be an act. Maybe she was just being paranoid after the whole rotom incident. The man, though, gave her the creeps. After a short mental debate, she decided it was safe to sit beside the girl and let eevee curl up in her lap.

"She already knows that, Grim just told 'er." Bull grumped.

"Shut up and be nice for once! Don't mind Bull, he's always like this. You'll get used to it." Bones looked down at the pokemon in Shadow's lap, who was glaring at the man for being mean to her trainer, and gently reached out to pat it. "Nice eevee. It looks strong." She complemented.

"How does an itty-bitty eevee look strong?" The hateful man snarled.

"I thought I told you to shut up! It just looks strong, okay?" She smiled back at Shadow again.

"Uh, thanks. Her names Rebel." Shadow replied offhandedly, stroking the fox's fur absentmindedly. "No offense, but I was expecting more people than this. Is it just the three of you living here?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, no, there's also Storm but she's out on a mission. Other than that, it's just us in this house. Although, some of the other's come to check up on us sometimes." Bones explained.

Shadow frowned in confusion. "So there are other houses like this one?"

Bones nodded, "Of course. The leaders of the houses give you a series of tests to see you're abilities. After that, they'll give you a job to perform within one of the houses. There are three of them. This one we call the Phantom House. Only the leader knows where the other house is, but only the Boss knows where the Main House is."

Shadow was taking metal notes and processing the information she was being given. "So, these tests…what are they like?"

"We ain't allowed teh tell ya." Bull grinned, "So ya gotta be strong, 'cus they ain't gonna go easy on ya just 'cus you's a lil' girl with a fuzz ball." He roared in laughter, ignoring the glares he got from both females and the eevee.

"Shut up, Bull!" Bones snapped. With an exasperated sigh, she turned back to the raven-haired girl. "He's right, we're not allowed to tell you, but I can tell you that just finding us was part of it."

"You _were_ hard to find, not to mention hardly anybody has ever heard of you." Shadow mused. "So, I'm assuming the Grim Reaper will be the one over looking my testing. Can you tell me about her or is it the same as the tests?" She asked hopefully.

Bones glanced at Bull, who looked uncaring, so she shrugged and replied, "I don't see why not, although we don't know much about her ourselves. Grim is the leader of the Phantom House. She loves ghost pokemon and can understand what they're feeling because she is so close with them. She can tame any ghost pokemon easily." She said with admiration sparkling in her eyes.

"I 'eard she was kicked outta the Ranger Academy 'cus she freaked out all a the other students an' teachers with 'er ghost pokemon. Everybody thought she was a freak." Bull added.

"I see…" Shadow whispered. Feeling something sharp prodding her shoulder, she turned to see a haunter pointing to the door with its long, creepy, purple claw.

Bones, noticing the ghost as well, said. "I think it wants you to follow it. Good luck."

"Okay then. I'll see you later?" She asked, receiving a nod in consent.

"Good luck." Came Bull's rough voice, to both Bone's and Shadow's surprise. He just grinned evilly. "You'll need it."

"**Hey Gary." **The voice on the screen said. Gary stared oddly at the screen, while Paul glared impatiently from behind him. **"Listen I know me calling you is kind of weird…"**

'_Kind of?'_ Gary thought, looking at the face of Ryan Summers. Alex suddenly disappears, which really isn't very unusual for her, and then her brother whom he's been avoiding for the past several months contacts him; that's abnormal.

"**But I'm heading back home earlier than I thought."**

'_And I would care because…?' _Gary asked mentally, seeing the purple-haired kid looking just as confused as he was.

As if hearing their unspoken questions, Ryan continued, **"I know, I know, why am I telling you this, right? Well, I just heard from Lexi in Pastoria City. She's the one that told me I should head home. She said she couldn't explain over the phone, but it was important that I leave. I probably will regret this, I usually do,"** he sighed, running a hand through his chocolate hair, **"But I'm taking her advice. I think she got in touch with your grandfather too, and I'm telling you this so you know what's going on. You might want to consider heading home as well. I don't know if you've seen her lately, but she mentioned being gone for a while. Oh, and another thing- hey!"** He exclaimed as he was pushed aside by a concerned purplenette.

"**Hello, I'm Regi. Listen, if in fact you did see Alex then you probably saw my little brother, Paul. If you see him again, could you tell him to call me? Thanks!"**

Ryan reappeared with a bump forming on the top of his head. He pouted up at the older boy, whining, **"Regi, this is **_**my**_** message. Go get your own!"** He turned back to the screen, **"Anyways, I'm keeping my pokenav off so if you're trying to reach me you'll have to wait until I get home. Okay, I think that's it. Why does it feel like I'm forgetting something?"**

"**You've said enough. Just get off the phone already!"** Regi blurted from elsewhere.

"**Fine then! You know Regi, you seem…"** The screen went black as Ryan ended his long, rambling message.

Gary stared at the blank screen for a for minutes before shouting, "Damn it, what was the other thing you were going to say?" He realized he was talking to nobody since it was just a message, and muttered, "Oh man, what did you get yourself into this time, Lexi?" It dawned on him that he wasn't actually alone and turned to speak again, his attitude resurfacing. "Your brother wants you to call him."

"I got that, loser." Stated Paul, rolling his eyes at the brunette and crossing his arms.

"Well _Paul_, you shouldn't be eavesdropping." He said to annoy the purplenette. "Oh, Joy!" He called across the counter only for her to appear in a blink of an as soon as he breathed, not wanting another riot from the still-fuming Paul or the Professor's grandson.

"Yes Mr. Oak?" She squeaked.

"How long ago was this message called in?" He asked, thinking he might have time to find the missing brunette before she ran off again and calculating the distance she could have gotten in a couple of hours. After all, Pastoria City wasn't too far away by flight.

The nurse was pensive for a few minutes, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. "Hmm, I suppose it would have been about…three days ago." She deduced, pleased she remembered. Her jittery chansey wobbled back to the counter with a tray of pokeballs and handed them to Joy. "And here's your pokemon as well, sir."

The two boys were awestruck. "Did you say _three days_ ago?" Paul demanded.

Joy started sweating again as the boy's voice got stronger yet again. She nodded furiously, looking at the two boys. "I-I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. Excuse me." Her heals clicked rapidly away and the two boys were left in their stupors.

"She was _planning_ this. You two must have still been stopped in Pastoria when she called Ryan. If something happened or somebody called her, we were too distracted to notice she wandered off." Gary slowly added things up, coming to half a conclusion.

"But what would make her do that?" Paul questioned.

"…I don't know. Ryan said he thought she might have talked to Gramps, maybe he knows." Gary suggested, reclaiming the phone and jabbed the numbers for Professor Oaks Lab. His fingers drummed against the surface anxiously as the line continued to ring…and ring…and ring…

An automated voice blared through the speakers, **"Hello, this is Professor Oak. I am out of the lab at this time but please call back later. Sorry for the inconvenience."** The final beep seemed to ring on for an eternity in the boys' heads.

Gary gawked at the screen, "Man, _now_ we're screwed."

* * *

Woah! Didn't see that one coming, did you? I think not.

Well you know the drill by now. Drop and give me 20! No, not push ups, dollars! I could really use the money. But, the alternative would be to leave a review to make Piano-girl happy. So, whichever you prefer is fine with me.

Until next time. Au revoir!


	16. Operation SPRAS and the SS

**Pokémon**

What is this? A new chapter! And it's early and longer? Oh my! Well readers, this might be a shock for you but it's deffinately a shock for me as well. I hope that these two factors don't hurt the content though. Let's hope I keep up this awesome summer writing energy. I couldn't have done it without you guys! A special shout out to **Crimson****. light. of. Death**,especially since your name didn't show up in the last chapter. Hopefully it will this time.

And now to the reviewers from last chapter and the one before, which I was too lazy to mention:

**xxichininxnioitexsonoxamexx**(really hope I spelled that right XP): Well thank you very much! I'm glad you like it, and I present to you the update!

**KitsPokePeople**: That you did. Thanks for your continued support!

**DragonzFyre WolvsAura**: Thank you. :)

**Starlight Lone-Wolf**: I hoped people would find it as funny as I imagined. Thanks.

**ADDBaby**: I hope that means you like the story so far? Lol.

**Althea Di Aerandaria **& **Zero-the One Man Show-Walkins**: Thanks for messaging in your ideas. :)

**Verdandi Iona**: Thank you so much. Your idea was really helpful.

**Shaymin**: Yay, I made somebody's day. :) Thank you.

**Taz1995**: Lol, that is classified information. :P I'll try, I swear!

And thanks to all the folks out there that are reading. It means a lot.

**Chapter # 16 – Operation SPRAS and the SS**

_Queue the theme song!_

**Piano-girl:** …What? We don't have a theme song? Seriously? Well that's bogus…well I guess it's on with the story then…

The dully-lit corridor seemed to run on for ages. They journeyed farther down, the icy air tickling the skin of the raven-haired girl making her shiver in discomfort. Every ten steps, a new red-flamed torch ignited their dim glow, and if at all possible, it seemed to get even darker and chillier as they continued until they seemingly hit a dead end.

Shadow was troubled as to why she had been escorted to a dead end. Why would there even be such a long hallway that led to nowhere? It made no sense! Well, these people were really whacked in the head, so maybe she shouldn't have been surprised. Her eevee huddled close to her leg fearfully. They just stared at the wall as though it would just vanish at any second.

"Am I supposed to say open sesame or something? What gives?" She demanded sarcastically.

Turning around with a devilish grin, the frigid, levitating hand of haunter clasped around Shadow's wrist and sucked her through the dead end, brick wall.

A bizarre sensation tickled her body as she passed through the solid object, like each piece of her body was being dislocated from her body, turned into a liquid, and then reattached at a rapid pace like puzzle pieces. Her eyes had drilled themselves shut as some point. As the dark orbs fluttered open, they couldn't see a thing.

Wherever Shadow had been dragged, it was swallowed by an inky void of darkness. The nippy air made it felt like she was in a freezer. The air supply seemed to be limited and stale tasting. It was dead silent besides the shaky breath escaping Shadow's lips.

Haunter made itself the sole visible thing to the human. It stuck its large tongue out and pulled down the area below it's eye down in a final taunting gesture. It glided back out of her vision, leaving a shrill cackle echoing off the walls at her expense.

Shadow's immediate reaction was to look for an exit. Her hands scraped along the jagged walls, probably drawing blood. Her hope diminished each time she came up empty. She went over and over the tiny room as if a door would magically appear the next time. She resorted to slapping her bloody palms against the barrier, calling, "Hello! Somebody get me out of here! What is going on? I can't miraculously walk through walls the last time I checked!" Nobody answered her pleas, not even the ghosts whom always roamed the halls.

Gravity hauled her down until she was curled up in the fetal position with her back to one of the four walls in her box. Her throbbing fists lay cradled in her lap. Each breath was becoming increasingly more difficult to take. Her head felt lighter than a helium balloon floating up in the clouds as her consciousness tried to slip away.

'_No! I have to think.'_ She told herself firmly.

'_**It would help if you could, oh I don't know, actually breath! They're trying to kill you!' **_Her inner voice countered.

'_Well I'm glad you're being so positive about it. Now shut up so I can think.'_

**'Whatever, but you know it's bad when you hear voices in your head. And you just told yourself to shut up.'**

'_Arg, no wonder people say I'm difficult to talk to. So if your so smart then how do I get out of here?'_

**'Well how am I supposed to know? I can only see as much as you can. Now you better think faster because I don't know how much longer you can hang on.'**

'_Geeze, you're helpful.'_

**'Tick Tock…'**

'_I don't see you thinking of any brilliant ideas!'_

**'You're wasting time.'**

'_Right. Focus. Man, this would be so much easier if I could see.'_

**'But you can't. And you also can't breath. Or apparently think…'**

'_Hey! That's not nice.__Wait… I know! This is just a stupid nightmare. Any second now I'm going to wake up in that stuffy, death box they call a bed.'_

**'Well this is great. Now you're delusional on top of everything else. Does this really feel unreal to you?'**

_'Wow, I really am mean…'_

**'Will you please focus?'**

* * *

"Tell me haunter, how is my Shadow doing?" The violet pokemon materialized through the wall of its master's office. "She's just sitting there? What a shame, I actually thought she had promise. Oh well, I suppose it can't be helped. We'll continue as according to plan, just in case. Keep me posted." And it was gone again.

The Grim Reaper was seated on a giant wooden chair in front of an equally large desk. Unlike most other rooms, this one had a small window with rose curtains, which prevented the sunlight from pouring in during the day. Her covered eyes shot between the three computer screens situated on her desk, and once in a while flickering to the brooding, night-colored fox clawing at the door.

Rebel, Shadow's eevee, stomped her tiny paws up and down the entrance, probably wearing out the carpet as she treaded. She'd stop to prod at the door, but after a futile attempt, would resort to her persistent pacing. As the un-hooded Reaper gave her a glance, she gave an unhappy mewl and sent a glare straight back. Silently, she was begging for her trainer to show up at this grand door and yell at the evil lady. Even if she wasn't aware of what the girl was being put through, she was smart enough to know it wasn't good.

* * *

**'Do you have any idea's yet?'**

'_No. Do you?'_

**'No.'**

Shadow could barely even hear the inner voice anymore. Her brain felt like was starting to fry and melt into a worthless pile of goop. Her body was trying to fight it, but she was already feeling numb from the inside out.

_'What would you do immediately after making a potentially lethal room underneath ground level?'_

'**Uh, I don't know, shove somebody in it?'**

'_No…well maybe. But the first thing I would do after building a room like this would be to create an exit. So where would it be hiding?'_

**'Somewhere you wouldn't think of if you were trying to escape?'**

'_Exactly! But there are still loads of possibilities and I don't have time to try them all.'_

'_**Well pick one you idiot and let's get out of here! Once we get out I say we shove that Bull guy down here and block **__**all**__** of the exits.'**_

'_Yeah, yeah, we have to get out first genius.'_

Shakily, with the protesting of her muscles and limbs, she got up on her knees and began feeling over the jagged surface once more. This time around, however, she found what she was looking for. It was a single, hallow, loose brick on the wall she had been leaning against. _'Why didn't I think of this before?'_ With her short nails, she pried the detached brick out of the wall. Her stinging fingers brushed against the layer of stone underneath, feeling a panel in the middle. She pushed on the crumbly surface. It didn't budge; it was stuck.

'_**Well that's great, push harder!'**_ With her last burst of energy, she shoved all of her weight into the panel and felt it give under her palm. A burst of warm air rushed in the space. There was a whirlwind of dust, as well as a few cracks as a good fraction of the opposite wall collapsed, and two parallel torches lit a new path.

Shadow tumbled to slump on the cold floor, gasping as though air was going out of style. She violently coughed and sputtered the dirt now caked to her lungs. The skirt of her dress flared out around her legs, her chest heaved from her resting place; sprawled on the cement. A breathless laugh passed her bluish lips, along with a few tears.

_'Look. Stairs!_'

**'Man, where's an elevator when you need one?'**

'_More like where's a therapist when you need one.'_ Heaving an exhausted sigh, Shadow began crawling up the heavenly, oxygen filled staircase with the dazzling light at the top.

* * *

If awkwardness were truly palpable, you would have been hit by it like being slammed by a golem's rollout attack as soon as the glass doors of Hearthome's pokemon center slid open. It was especially thick the closer you got to a single table. Seated at it were two boys, both with identical scowls. But the city traffic was circulating once again since Paul gave up murdering everybody in his head with stabbing, onyx eyes.

"It's not like Alex to just leave without a reason or without telling anybody where she was going. She would have left a clue or told at least one person. I bet Gramps knows where she is, if only he would answer." Gary thought out loud. His eggs were uncivilly forked and shoved into his mouth.

"Hn." Was the simple reply of Paul, eating much less ferociously.

"And if her ignorant brother had finished telling us what he was going to, maybe we'd have more to go on."

"Hn."

"Is that all you can say, _Paul_? If you're not going to help then you're only being in my way. Why don't you just run along and _I'll_ go find my little Lexi." Gary looked up from his plate to look at the boy across from him, crossing his arms and watching pompously for him go get riled up.

Paul wasn't actually really listening at all. He was thinking too, just more mentally than voicing his opinion. He had called his brother the previous night and his words seemed to haunt him.

"_Paul! I haven't heard from you since you left here with Alex." Exclaimed Reggie._

"_Hn, what did you want me to call you for?" Paul huffed; he was still annoyed about the girl's disappearance and just hearing her name seemed to set his irritation_ _off again, and that stupid, idiot friend of hers was really testing his anger level to its limit and beyond. _

"_I wanted to warn you. There's been a lot of thefts and pokemon kidnappings lately. It's been all over the Sinnoh News and the perpetrators haven't been caught yet. Be careful while your out, and warn Alex when you see her too!" _

"_Whatever. I can take care of myself." Paul replied, trying to look careless as usual._

Reggie gave him a long, scrutinizing stare before saying, "Alright. Take care, little brother." He let the line go dead.

Did Alex get swept up by some of these people? He remembered the day a while back when he went to find her after he had yelled at her, causing her to go off on her own. Maybe he hadn't used the most cordial way to approach her, but he was expecting her to be quite angry. Instead, as he closed his palm around her mount to prevent a shout of rage, she seemed jumpy, emotional, and almost frightened. When she turned around and saw whom it was, the look on her face was pure relief. But he didn't ask why.

Then he remembered the nightmare; she fastened herself onto him with all of her strength, still fast asleep. When she woke up, it as like it happened all the time. The dark rings around her black eyes were also proof of that. She was so angry that night, and distressed; words that would define her emotions lately compared to the happy girl he saw when he met her. She was still like that sometimes, like when she was with her brother, her pokemon, or the boy seated across from him. He didn't follow her that night as she stomped out the door. He didn't ask what disturbed her sleep.

In fact, he hadn't once tried to ask her what was wrong. They rarely spoke unless it was absolutely necessary. He wasn't good with tears, or _feelings_. Just the word made him twitch. But if they were friends, or even just traveling partners, shouldn't she have been able to tell him what was wrong. Shouldn't he have asked what was bothering her? Was it his fault they were in this situation again? Except potentially worse, of course.

"_Pa-ul._" Gary droned until the purplenette's gaze drew into focus on him, desperately swinging his fork beneath the boy's nose.

"Did you say something?" He blinked owlishly. He was the one feeling rather satisfied as the smart-ass brunette feel out of his chair, flustered.

After composing himself, Gary sighed, "Well, what happened while you two were in Pastoria City?"

"We challenged the gym, obviously." He said in his 'duh' manner.

"I mean besides that." Gary indignantly rubbed his temples. He had about enough of this Paul character. He may be amusing to get a goodrile out of, but it worked both ways. They got under each other's skin. If it wasn't for the unspoken treaty they had to find Alex, then they would have went their separate ways long ago.

"Nothing. We got there late, stayed the night, challenged the gym, and got caught in a storm so we checked back into the pokemon center. She had a nightmare, stayed up the rest of the night, and we headed out early the next morning."

Somewhere in between Paul's reminiscing, Gary had perked up considerably, a concerned frown overpowering his annoyance. "Storm? Nightmare? Did she say about what?"

Paul flinched, mostly in remorse. "No…"

Gary stroked his invisible beard in wonder. "This might be worse than I thought…" He muttered inaudibly. "Maybe its just coincidence?" He questioned himself.

"What are you talking about?" Growled Paul. He hated when this guy made him feel out of the loop.

"Nothing, nothing!" Gary rigidly assured. "But maybe Pastoria City would be a good place to start. After all, that is around the last place any of us saw or heard from her."

Paul urgently arose. "Well let's go then. We're just wasting time sitting here like losers."

Sweat dropping, Gary followed the hasty boy as the two boys began their own special quest: Operation SPRAS!

Or in other words: Operation Search and Possible Rescue of Alex Summers

* * *

There was light. There was honest to god electricity in the torch lit mansion. Shadow supported herself in the doorway as she peeped into the new, open space. She stumbled in farther, her skin soaking in the bright, stadium spotlights. It was truly a wonder that this chamber even existed within the dark palace.

The walls were a vibrant, lime-green shade, making the expanse appear larger than it was in reality. In the center, and taking up the majority of the floor area, was about a five-foot drop to an earthy, circular battlefield outlined with white and split in half like a pokeball. Both sides had a gate to a flight of stairs leading to the field. The upper floor however, was tiled in sparkly sleet, just wide enough to be a walking path. If you looked up, it was all glass; like an observing room.

Clapping, no, more like applauding, echoed through the empty room. Shadow, frightened, rapidly scanned for the source of the racket. It sounded rather distant, and she realized it was being broadcasted though a pair of speakers. Shifting her gaze upward, sure enough her gaze locked with the hooded figure she came to know as the head of the house.

"Well done, Shadow. I had faith that you would make it out." The haunting voice divulged, smoothing down the offended, black fox's bristling fur as she was held securely in her cloaked grasp.

"What kind of test was _that_?" Shadow shouted, not completely sure the girl could actually hear her through the thick walls.

Clearly she could as seconds later a colorless laugh cackled through the microphone. "We needed time to set up the arena. It's been quite a while since we've used this portion of the building. It simply was necessary to stall you to give your opponent a chance to arrive. She was running a tad behind schedule, you see. But I must say that making it out of that room all by yourself is quite an achievement."

Shadow flared up. "You mean that _wasn't_ a part of the test?"

"Like I said. We required more time."

Shadow twitched that she didn't sound horribly bothered at the thought of leaving somebody in a tiny room, if you could even call it that, to suffocate. "You have got to be kidding me." She mumbled.

"But if you're that anxious to start then be our guest. We have everything set up now, anyway. Please, take your place on the right side of the field."

Feeling reasonably weak and woozy from her near death experience, Shadow forced the feeling away and sat down on the ledge of the walkway to take a shortcut down, sliding down the wall. Her legs felt jelly-like as they bent father than they should, to the point where she was nearly seated on the floor, to take the impact of the jump. She awkwardly stumbled over to the trainer's rectangle on the field.

A girl glared at her from the left sector, her eyes so pale of gray they were almost white. Long, braided, snowy hair dangled over her left shoulder with a violet headband pinning back the few loose strands. An unbuttoned, floor length, navy trench coat brought out her porcelain skin and light hair. Underneath, she wore a pair of white leggings and a high-collared, sleeveless, cerulean dress reaching mid thigh. Her slender hand was poised on her cocked hip with a look that said she had better places to be.

"I don't believe you have met. Storm, this is Shadow. Shadow, this is who you'll be up against, Storm. You must defeat her to challenge me. It's that simple. Are you ready?" The hushed voice asked.

"But I don't have any pokemon!" Shadow shouted hysterically.

"Psh, what are you doing here if you don't even have any pokemon of your own?" Storm snobbishly taunted.

"No, I have the pokemon but their not _here_. They're still in my room." Shadow was yelling at a wall instead of the direction she intended it to be directed, her reduced vision making it difficult to see.

"That won't be a problem." Grim pushed a big, shiny, red button on a large dashboard filled with colorful buttons and levers.

The ground beneath the two girls rumbled before a stand rose up in front of each of them. The screen flickered on, showing Shadow all of the pokemon she had with her.

"Now, this will be a one-on-one battle. The last pokemon left standing will be announced the winner. Any questions? Then go." Grim reclined in her seat to watch the girls. Shadow's eevee silently brooded in her lap, fussing in the girl's slightly harsh grip. It was obvious that Shadow was having a bit of complications below, but Grim decided it would be interesting to see how this all worked out.

Hesitantly, Shadow placed her finger on one of the images. To the side where there was a circular gap, a yellow and black ultra ball popped out with a _whoosh_. She just barely caught it in her chaffed hand, but had to rebalance herself using the platform. She concentrated all of her attention on the older girl across the field.

"Let's keep it frosty, froslass!" Cheered Storm, doing a spin and releasing the pokeball. The pokemon appeared, floating off the ground. Most of its petit structure was white but, its jaw, the circles around its eyes, and an area etched as a diamond on its forehead of its raindrop shaped noggin, purple skin could be seen. The strip around its waist resembled a red ribbon tied in a bow at the back, and patches of baby blue were spotted along the outer part of its flared wrists. Two horn-like crystals of ice protruded from the top of the pokemon's head.

"Eh? Why couldn't they have given me my pokedex too? Oh well, its time for battle, houndoom." The distorted girl called, unleashing her black, double-horned, fire mutt.

Storm began immediately, "Ice shard!" The white pokemon held out its three-fingered hands, forming a glowing piece of ice that only got bigger as it moved its arms farther apart. It threw the enormous hunk of frozen water at the dog with impressive force.

"Melt it down, houndoom." The raven-haired girl ordered calmly. The mutt seated a few feet in front of his trainer had a toothy smile, his eyes closed as he relished the time being out of his stuffy confines. Hearing its trainer's request, his crimson eyes bolted open to the incoming attack. His milky white fangs lit up with heat and caught the ice with his jaws, throwing the evaporated shard to the side. He smirked at the small ice pokemon through the water vapor.

"Now attack with another fire fang." Houndoom shot up, tearing across the field and sinking its flaming teeth into the froslass. It tossed the lightweight pokemon to the wall after hearing a satisfactory screech of pain.

"That's my precious froslass, don't be so mean to it! Froslass, give it a taste of your attract." The white pokemon cracked open its crystal-blue eyes and winked at houndoom, blowing it a kiss.

The infatuated dog's eyes became pink hearts and lost its threatening appearance. Its trainer snarled in frustration. "Ohhh no." She clutched her head as the room started spinning like a merry-go-round. "Uhhhh, houndoom, use flamethrower." The dog didn't attack, earning a giggle from both her opponents.

"Aw, looks like the big, bad wolf isn't so mean after all." Storm baby-talked. "I knew you were a waste of my time. One more time, froslass, ice shard!" The ball of frozen water got a clear shot, knocking the dog of his paws. Unfortunately for them, it also knocked the sense back into him too.

"You're back to normal, houndoom? Great, then heat it up with flamethrower!" With a battle snarl, houndoom was back on his feet and blasted fire effectively at froslass.

"Froslass, my darling! Are you okay?" Storm ran up to her spiral-eyed pokemon. A glowing red beam pulled it back into its pokeball.

"Isn't my Shadow amazing, Storm?" The noiseless Reaper snuck up behind the swaying girl, who was returning her pokemon as well, and placed a bony hand on her shoulder.

The defeated girl gave a petulant huff and, like her name, stormed out of the arena.

Eevee was handed back to her trainer and cuddled close to her neck, mewling happily and wagging her puffy black tail. The relieved trainer scratched the fox behind her ears affectionately as she purred.

Grim took Storms place on the lower lever, enlarging a black, green-spotted and red-trimmed dusk ball. "Alright, now it's time for your true test. Are you ready?"

* * *

"Bull."

"…"

"Bull?"

"Hn."

"Bull!"

"Wha' da bloody 'ell d'ya want, Bones?" Bull groggily grumbled at the girl. He had been enjoying a rather peaceful nap before the pest across the way intruded.

The redhead lying on the sofa swung her legs over the sofa's edge so she could search the man's face for a reaction. "Do you think she's okay?" She asked in a soft voice. Her ruby orbs glued onto the man's smoky ones, a pinch of sadness brimming through.

The man grunted, "Sure, why woul'n she be?"

"I don't know. But don't you feel like something is very wrong?" She turned her calculating eyes down to her fidgeting hands, spinning her pokeball as a nervous habit. "Maybe I'm just over thinking things."

"You? O'erthinkin'? Now dats funny." He chuckled, rolling over on the smooth material in hopes she would drop the conversation.

"You're really no help at all, Bull. I mean, would Grim even tell us if something hadn't gone as planned?"

"Le'it go." Bull grumbled with his face stuffed into the cushiony seats.

Disappointed at the mans blatant indifference, Bones let her body flop back down, but the thoughts that swam through her mind kept her from relaxing as much as she should. She could only stare at the ceiling for now and hope for the best.

After all, who knew what happened in the mysterious depths of the Soul Salvation?

* * *

And that's that. Thank you all and good night. I hope to be hearing from you, my lovely readers! Virtual cookies for everyone! Wow, I really need to lay off the caffeine and get more sleep. Who know, maybe the next chapter will be even EARLIER! Gasp!

~Piano-girl~


	17. Step in a New Direction

**Pokémon**

Hello again, folks. I'm due for an update so here it is. Actually, with luck the update after this should be quite quick concidering it's over half done already. But that is besides the point for now. And I am happy to announce that I have a fairly non-stressful looking school schedule this year so that should mean more time for writing! Now piano work...is going to be hard, but I promise that I will do my best. Thank you all the people reading. My great supporters :) Here's your new chapter.

**Chapter # 17 – Step in a New Direction**

Grim took Storms place, enlarging a black, green-spotted and red-trimmed dusk ball. "Alright, now it's time for a true battle. Are you ready?"

"Do I have a choice?" Shadow moaned from her hunched over position.

"No." Grim replied with finality. Her dusk ball flew into the air to free her chosen pokemon. "This will also be a one-on-one battle, but this time I'd like you to use that eevee of yours.

Eevee became more animate in the girl's embrace, having hateful, demonic images of revenge against the girl that held her captive. She eagerly hopped out of Shadow's arms and galloped to her designated area. The black fur on her back stood on end as she let out a long hiss.

Her opponent floated onto the field. It was a pale gray, crescent moon rock with a beak shaped nose in the inner curve and two large, crimson eyes. "You may have the honor of the first attack." Grim offered.

"Well gee thanks." Shadow muttered in response. "Let's start off with a shadow ball!" Even before the words left her mouth, eevee was already charging up dark energy in her mouth. As the crackling orb got as big as its head, Rebel shot it at the moon-looking pokemon.

"Harden." Lunatone's rock form glossed over just as the attack hit. It did a backward somersault before straightening out. The attack didn't appear to inflect too much damage, as it recovered itself almost instantly.

"Okay, so that didn't work. Charge up, Rebel." Eevee glowed with light power, gathering the light in its charcoal fur.

"Harden, again." Repeating the process, lunatone made its stone body even denser.

All the while, little eevee was absorbing power, storing it in her fur until she looked like a living light bulb instead of a tiny monster from the dark. "Release the energy, Rebel. Use solar beam!" Every bit of light was ejected through her mouth with an overwhelming ray of light. It was a massive attack and often dealt quite a bit of damage for such a petit fox, but constrained her movement until she recharged. Her pink tongue dangled out of her mouth as she panted.

"Harden." Again, a glare washed over the rock just as the discharge engulfed it, and once again it toppled backward only to return to its position like it was nothing but a tickle.

"What is the matter with that thing? It doesn't look injured at all!" Shadow shouted in frustration. "Okay then Rebel, let's try a different tactic. Dig and double team combination." As soon as the fox was able to, she burrowed deep unto the dirt field under their feet.

"Once more, use harden."

"Now Rebel, jump up and use shadow ball!" A complete circle of eevees pounced out of the ground, surrounding the lunatone. There was a fury of purple as each shot a violet sphere at the pokemon.

The pokemon blinked in confusion. It could have been the slightest of flinches from a dozen orbs raining down to explode upon the numerous protective barriers shrouding its body, but it wasn't probable. It was more like, _"What is this little runt trying to do?" _Either way, the effect was minimal. "Now lunatone, finish this with stone edge." A dozen hunks of rocks were summoned around lunatone's structure and pierced through the air to devastatingly strike the black fox.

Eevee howled as the boulder's hurled into her small body and sandwiched her in the bright stadium wall. She rolled down the indent the rock had made to be cushioned in her trainer's arms. The battle was declared as over.

Shadow cuddled the distressed and enervated fox to her chest to protect her from any more harm. "I'm so sorry, Rebel. You were outstanding, as always." She whispered to her half-conscious pokemon as she glared at the unscratched rock and freakishly placid trainer. "So what does this mean? I didn't pass the test, so what happens now?"

The Reaper was silent and pensive for several seconds before making her way to the younger girl in her gliding manner. "How do you figure this, my Shadow?"

"What, that I didn't pass your test? You said I had to beat both Storm and yourself in battle and you just won."

"No, my dear Shadow, you need to work on your listening skills." The ghostly voice lectured. "I said if you wished to challenge me, then you had to defeat Storm. At no point did I utter the words "Defeat me". Why, by doing so you would have become the leader of the House of Phantoms."

"So, just to make sure, I didn't fail the test by not winning this battle?" The hood of the leader's cloak rustled as her head shook no in response to the question. "Damn, well in that case…" But Shadow could no longer continue, since the day's events had taken their toll on her body until it finally just shut down. It was quite impressive she even lasted that long, not that it was much of an accomplishment.

The leader was just within distance to catch the girl and her fainted pokemon before they could give themselves a concussion "My ghosts, please teleport her back to her room. And make sure her pokemon get taken care of, especially this one."

At their master's hiss, a pack of ghosts did as she requested. A small shiver ran down Grim's spine, but thankfully none of her subordinates were there for her momentary crack of emotion. "They're so young." Reaper whispered. She thought maybe somebody already sensed the miniscule change in her behavior lately, so now was no time to show weakness. She had rightfully received her title too many years ago to let it slip away so easily.

* * *

The cloudy weather and soppy, mushy grass met the two boys as they once again passed through Pastoria's borders. No words passed between them, although Gary muttered to his umbreon every once in a while. The little black dog was on lookout duty on the unlikely occurrence Alex was still wandering on the route between Hearthome and Pastoria City. No such luck.

Paul was acutely aware of anything around him, but despite usually keeping quiet, he felt the need to talk. Sometimes Alex would randomly start ask an out of the blue question, comment randomly on something, mutter profanities (only when she was in a horrible mood though), or have a conversation with one of her pokemon, which frankly he couldn't fathom. This Gary character had a lot of oddly similar qualities as Alex.

They may have relaxed a bit as they walked, but if there wasn't that tinge of tension lingering around them it would have almost been like she was the one beside him. Although Alex didn't make a point of stretching out his name like she was mocking him. "So, how do you know Alex?" Paul finally managed to spit out with a minor bruise of his pride.

The brunette turned away from his dog to flash another cocky smirk at the boy, who had avoided it by walking with his eyes closed and hands stuffed in his pocket to give him a mask of uncaring. Gary rolled his eyes, "Why, _Paul_? Are you…jealous?" He gasped with fake shock.

Paul turned his face away dismissively. "That's ridiculous. I just realized that neither of us knew more than each other's names and that we have a single, missing person in common, yet we're traveling together."

"Sure, sure, whatever. My little Lexi and I go way back to when we were about three; that's when she moved to Pallet Town. She and I are best buds, really close while we were growing up. And I guess you already know her half-brother Ryan since he was at your brother's house." Gary prattled boastfully.

'_Pallet Town?_' Paul thought, finally cluing in to the fact that Alex and that pathetic loser Ash had probably grown up together too. He'd have to keep that as a mental note in case they turned out to be, he shuddered at the thought, _friends_. '_Wait, did he say half-brother?_' "Wait, Alex _moved_ to Pallet and her and Ryan are only half siblings?"

"Hm, she never told you that? Not a big surprise, she hardly ever brings it up. I don't think Lexi would want me telling you much, but yes, they have different biological mothers. But they have a striking resemblance, eh? If you want to know more, ask her." He trailed of to ponder aloud, "Which reminds me, her brother must have made it back to Pallet by now. And gramps should be back at the lab."

The pokemon center doors opened for the two, welcoming them in its white and pink glory. Gary made a beeline for the phones, once again making a bizarre call to Ryan. "I've called this dork more times this year than any other time in my whole life." He muttered to himself, ashamed he had to actually resort to talking to the boy.

"_Y-ello! You've reached the Summers' Pokémon Daycare Center here in the homely area of Pallet Town. Sorry, but I am currently taking a vacation and am out of the region. The exact date of my return is uncertain at the moment, but if you leave me a message I assure you that I will receive it when I return. I apologize for the inconvenience… To leave a message, please press-"_

Gary slammed the receiver back on the hook in an annoyed huff. "That. Idiot. Lied. To. Me!" He growled through gritted teeth. Ruling out that option, he then proceeded to type the number to his grandfather's lab.

"_Hello? Oh, Gary, it's you! Where are you? I thought you were heading back to the lab once you had finished your work. It surely didn't take you that long."_ The professor's voice chimed over the speakers.

"Gramps! Where are Alex and Ryan?" Gary urgently demanded while ignoring all questions aimed at him.

The professor looked bewildered, _"They're both over there in Sinnoh. I thought you knew that. After all, it was your planning that helped Alex get over there and your idea for Ryan to take a nice, long vacation so he would stop 'biting your ear off'."_

Now, usually he wouldn't be, the Professor was getting a bit senile after all, but Gary was worried by the confusion of his grandfather. "So you're saying that Lexi hasn't called you recently and Ryan isn't back home?" He double-checked.

"_No, Ryan, as far as I know, is still in Veilstone City. As for dear Alex…now that you mention it I do believe she called me about a week ago asking me to send a folder of papers out of the house to her brother. Quite strange if I might say, but she always did do things her own way. That makes me think of a-"_

"A poem? Yeah, I don't have time to hear it. What was on those papers?"

"_Well, I don't know. I never looked at them if that's what you're insinuating. May I ask why are you so curious all of a sudden?"_

"Alex has disappeared. I was with her and she just magically vanished." He used his hand movements to make the statement more dramatic

The wise professor rubbed his chin thoughtfully. _"I see. Well maybe you cannot find her because she does not want to be found. It would be unlikely that she was abducted. She's a strong girl, she can take care of herself."_

"I suppose… Thanks gramps, I'm taking some time off lab work. Smell ya later!" He disconnected before the man could retaliate. Alex was strong, that was undeniably true, but it was also a fact that trouble seemed to be sneaking behind her everywhere she went.

It wasn't a second later before Paul took hold of his sleeve and lugged him outside. "Come on, we're leaving." He said gruffly. With Gary in tow, he ventured outside Pastoria again, but in the opposite direction than the other times. "We followed your gut the last time and we got nowhere. Now, we're following mine." They ventured out to the nearby beach where a huge white cruise ship was docked. It appeared to be readying its departure. So with haste, the two boys made the final whistle as the ship set sail.

Would this cruise ship lead them to Alex? In fact, where was it this boat made berth anyway?

* * *

_Thunder rolled in the sky. Rain pattered against the white material of a small umbrella. A crying young girl held the end of the shelter loosely, a boy resembling her at her side. Their eyes gushed tears of sorrow as they gazed at two large, mahogany boxes; two coffins. Other people stood in the background, unnoticed by the grieving siblings. _

_But suddenly, it all vanished as lightning struck nearby. The falling water accumulated and created a wall between the two children. The earth trembled. A crevice formed in the waterlogged ground, swallowing the coffins in a gaping, black hole. _

"_Sis!" The girl heard from behind the liquid barricade. She was too focused on the endless abyss that opened in the ground. "Mommy! Daddy!" She peered down, inching closer and closer to the edge. _

_There was more cackling, but this time it wasn't from resounding thunder. It was the same evil laughter all the time. A tall, fit man stood behind her, vibrating with a hearty laugh. A black umbrella decorated with silver feathers obscured his face. "You're daddy's not here anymore." Another flash of lightning, but it was strange. Instead of a glow of white, it struck with a bolt of red and seemed to cover the entire atmosphere. _

"_Aren't you going to try and save them?" He asked, pointing past her and down at the darkness._

"_I…" Her eyes fearfully shot from the man, to the hole and to the sky and back again. The raindrops around her amplified the strange colored lightning so it was like they were swimming in a sea of blood._

_The man opened his mouth again, the obstacle blocking her view of the man slowly slipping from his grasp. "CODE RED!"_

…_Wait, what? That didn't seem right at all._

_The ground opened under her feet before she could begin to contemplate. It was just as the man's face was revealed that her view was cut off. The world twisted around the young girl as the darkness also brightened to a livid crimson. Her stomach wedged itself into her chest. Right before she thought she was to hit the bottom…_

Shadow shot up, but seeing as how the awkward bed was placed at such an angle that was almost as if you slept standing up, instead of just sitting up gravity kept pulling her foreword until she face planted into the clammy, concrete floor she had come to be rather acquainted with.

"CODE RED! ALERT, ALERT! CODE RED!" Sang the blaring voice of the security system. The entire building danced with a flood of scarlet. The sirens hollered in warning of an intruder.

Four doors cracked open to a bewildered face, shocked, groggy and… well, nobody could see Grim's face so it was hard to tell. They stepped into the unusually bright hallway into a sort of huddle.

"I-is this part of the test?" Shadow stuttered. She inquisitively looked to the others for guidance, not knowing what to do in this situation. "Is it possible that somebody else found the mansion?"

"No, people sometimes come up here exploring, but they never get close to the border because we get an alert once they step foot into our territory and somebody will go scare the intruder away before they can see us. But somebody's gotten past the gates without tripping the other alarm." Bones whispered across from Shadow, eyeing their leader.

The Grim Reaper's face turned red under her hood, and not just because of the lights. "Bull, go shut off the security system. I'll handle this." She slid out of the room immediately as the order left her lips.

Bull rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with a grunt, following out after the leader.

Shadow and Bones both yawned, glaring up at the source of all the noise and light. It eventually shut off, cutting off the flashing red and putting them in the dark. The torches then kicked in and glowed their faded black energy.

Bull dragged his feet back towards them, eyes closed like he was sleepwalking. "Next one o' yeh ta wake me up s'gonna be in f'r a world a pain." He slurred, slamming his bedroom door behind him.

Bones grinned wickedly. "Want to go see who broke in?"

"You mean spy on Grim?" Shadow asked with a raised brow.

"Well, I mean, if your scared of getting caught or something I'll just go alone…"

"Are you kidding? That the best idea I've heard since I've been here!" Shadow said excitedly, turning and starting to walk away.

"Eh, Shadow? Wrong way."

"Yeah, I'm still a little tired so maybe you should lead." Shadow sheepishly rubbed her neck.

"Shut yer yaps!" Bull's muffled voice shouted from behind his door.

The girls laughed and ran down the dull hallways with the redhead taking the front. They slowed down to a tiptoe as Bones held a finger to her lips, signaling for quiet. Their backs pressed against the rough wall on either side of a large, black door designed with dozens of ghost pokemon chalk drawings.

"_What do you mean? I haven't even tested her yet!"_

"_Well that's not my problem. You have had more than enough time. What have you been doing, sitting around gossiping and doing each other's nails?"_

"_It's not your job to monitor what we do. And by the way, there is a much easier way to enter my mansion then crashing through my security gates! Why do you want her now, anyway?"_

"_Let's just say we have the perfect mission for her. Look, if she's not cut out for our line of work then we'll send her back here. Now calm yourself, Reaper."_

'Who are they talking about?' Shadow mouthed over to Bones, only to be answered with a shrug. They pressed their ears harder against the door.

"…_so if you just show me where she is, I can be on my way."_

There was I few seconds of silence, no doubt used by The Reaper to regain her composure, since she was at the point where her monotonous voice had escalated into angry shouting. _"If you think you're taking my Shadow away from me after just three days you're sadly mistaking. The agreement was at least a week." _She seethed.

Shadow gaped at the door. '_Me?'_ On the other hand, Bones donned a look of realization.

"_My, my, Grim Reaper, it sounds as though you've grown rather attached to our newest member. She must be a keeper after all. She'll be perfect for the job."_

"_I don' t think so, you snake." _

Suddenly, Shadow wasn't a statue staring at the creepy looking door anymore. She was hoisted up and thrown over a muscular shoulder, still in a shocked, unmoving state.

"No!" Her spying companion protested in a hushed shout at the culprit as they pushed the door open and strode in.

"'ere, take 'er, ya bunch o' loud mouths." Bull let go of the girl, making her do a face dive into the floor.

"Bull! You idiot!" Grim and Bones shrieked at the man.

"Sorry Grim, but y'all gotta shut yer bloody girly, screamin' yaps." Bull apologized, not the slightest remorseful.

"Bull, you giant, clumsy lummox, that wasn't very courteous of you." A man stepped over to the limp girl, who hadn't bothered standing up since this was about her third exciting trip to the floor that day. At least they were relatively clean… "Here, let me help you up. You may call me Dimentio." He picked her up with ease and placed her on her feet, brushing her dress off before circling her like a hawk. "And you must be the lovely Shadow. Quite an honor it is to meet you, it is." He stopped once again in front of her and gave her a bright, toothy smile. "Indeed, you are perfect…with a little bit of tweaking, that is."

"My Shadow, don't listen to him. He's an evil, lying, manipulative snake." Grim leered at the male under her cape.

Shadow finally shook herself free from her daze, frowning at Dimentio. He was a pretty young looking man, and was actually considerably handsome. His ebony hair was styled short in the back with long bangs falling in layers to his chin. Emerald eyes sparkled with specks of silver as they confidently remained on hers. He wore a dressy attire of a classy, black suit with a double-tailed, knee length jacket, a white button-up underneath, sleek dress shoes and a pair of white gloves. When he turned slightly to eye the Reaper, she could just make out a snake-like, entwined _SS_ embroidered with dark green thread mid-way down the back of his blazer. He wasn't as chalky colored as most of the inhabitants in the House of Phantoms, but he also didn't appear as tanned as Bull. By the way he was able to lift her in a simple, swift motion, he was obviously strong, but his muscles weren't as defined as Bull's and were hidden by the slimming, black jacket. In short, he was like a dark Prince charming.

"Um, thank you, I guess…" She muttered in a zoned-out tone. "Wait…tweaking? Perfect for what? I think I was complimented and insulted all at once. How rude. Wait, what's going on, the last thing I remember was being in some arena, battling. And having an insane dream. Why are my hands bandaged? And I'm hungry! Where's my Rebel?" Shadow babbled randomly, discerning that she was drawing a whole lot of blanks and her head was pounding…maybe she hit her head a few too many times.

"Oh, I would never insult such a lovely, young lady such as yourself. Now tell me, I bet you haven't gotten outside at all since you've been here, have you? We, at the House of Chaos, can give you more freedom then they'll ever give you here. You see, we have got a special mission, and you are the best candidate to complete it. And if it doesn't work out, then we'll bring you straight back, what do you say? Will you please help us?" He looked up at her through his long lashes.

"I, eh…" She stuttered oh-so intelligently. She glanced at the others in the room. Bull couldn't have looked happier; all signs of sleep had disappeared as he nodded his head at her to accept. Bones looked the exact opposite; she looked disappointed and depressed, but gave her a small, sad smile of encouragement. And the words that the leader had uttered before was proof enough she completely disapproved of the idea. _'This could be you're best chance.__'_ Her inner voice whispered.

'_I thought I got rid of you!'_ She sighed. "Okay, I'll do it." She accepted.

Bull had a strange, giddy look on his face. "Really? I'll go fetch yer stuff f'r ya!" The bulky man practically skipped with joy as he exited the room, humming _I'm Walking on Sunshine_ as he went.

Shadow stuck to her previous thoughts: These people were insane, out of their minds, bonkers, all of the above. Dimentio was like an angel standing in front of her.

"Shadow, you don't have to do this." Grim said, once again to her impassive self.

Shadow had backed herself up and leant against the Reaper's desk. "No, I want to."

"You better take care of her, pretty boy." Bones warned the man, shaking her fist. "Or your flawless face will meet my right hook!"

"And Bones, it's lovely to see you again. I assure you I shall keep a watchful eye on her while she's in my care." He replied with a flip of his bangs.

Bull was back in a jiffy, holding her backpack in one of his large hands. He grinned wildly at her as he set it in her hands. "Nice knowin' ya! Don't le' da door 'it ya on yer way out." He patted her arm a bit to enthusiastically, as she flinched at the contact.

"Bull, watch yourself! But I must agree we are making wonderful time. Let us be on our way, shall we, Shadow?" He gently lifted the bag from her injured hands and offered her an arm.

She took it with a small blush, giving Bones, perhaps the least crazy in the house, a wave as the man escorted her out of the room. She laughed as she thought of the last time she had been escorted by one of the society members. She had almost suffocated in a tiny room with no help from her so-called coworkers.

"May I inquire as to what you find so amusing, Shadow?" The man asked.

"Nothing. You're not leading me to my doom, are you? Although, I doubt you would tell me if you were, anyway." She chuckled.

Dimentio shook his head seriously, "Of course not, dear Shadow, for I do believe you are more valuable to us alive than dead."

"Good to know." She remarked.

The afternoon rays of sun crept through the forest to greet them, causing Shadow to cower behind the taller man. She noted that Dimentio had whipped out a pair of shades when they hit the outdoors and guided her along to a huge, glossy aircraft with tinted windows and presently parked where one of the four electric gate walls had once been. It now laid as crumbled debris, crushed under the jet's weight.

Like the gentleman he was, Dimentio assisted her up on the high-class piece of technology and got her settled. "Welcome to the Night Rider, Ms. Shadow. We will be taking off momentarily." He flashed her another smile.

As he said, the large aircraft soon came to life. A high-powered engine purred almost soundlessly. They slowly hovered in the air for a few seconds, but then the rockets kicked in high gear and they soared into the sky. The speed of the take off made Shadow stumble a bit. The pressure in her ears began to build as they gradually gained more and more altitude.

And so, that is how Shadow was freed from the ghostly haunted Phantom House and its kooky residents. Would the other members of the Soul Salvation be just as batty? And what will happen when she arrives at the island? Stay tuned to find out.

* * *

And that's that. Thanks for reading, and comments are muchly appreciated. Just saying. Anyway, hopefully a new chapter soon. Messaging me might be a real motivator. Again, just saying.


	18. Shadow's Mission

**Pokémon**

Well, that was relatively quick, right? I'm not sure why but I'm on a writing streak. The next chapter is already half written again. Although I was feeling lazy about checking it over again so I'm very sorry if there are mistakes. Okay, well that's about all I have to say. Onward!

**Chapter # 18 - Shadow's Mission**

The night-colored aircraft sliced through the air at an incredible speed. Dimentio ushered Shadow over to a plush, white sofa, steadying her as she tripped quite a bit. Her bag was placed elsewhere as he sat next to her, slightly at an angle so he could converse with her. "I am most glad you decided to come with me, Shadow. And as promised I will inform you as to our plans for you." He received a simple nod from the girl. "We believe there is some valuable information on an uncharted island in the middle of the sea, rationally named Middle-of-Nowhere Island. It's not a part of the waters that locals or tourists visit often, not many sailors are capable of navigating through, and not many people have heard of it. They hold an annual competition around this time of year for trainers lucky enough to be in the right place as the ferry arrives. We had planned on sending a more experienced member, but alas, he is…far too busy. This is where you come in."

Shadow noticed the slight hesitation when speaking of this person's alibi, but said nothing of it. "You want me to go in this person's place…why? Why can't it be anybody else? I mean you personally flew all the way out to the House of Phantoms for me." Shadow analytically questioned.

Dimentio laughed as though he was told a joke. "Well, my dear, you are a sharp one, aren't you? I have heard from the Reaper that you are quite the pokemon trainer. If she says you are talented, then you are. You and Chaos are the ones most suited for this. And with Chaos gone, we're counting on you."

"I see…" Shadow replied. _'Chaos, I've heard that name before…'_

"So, we'll need to change your whole image. Oh don't give me that look; it's not nice on such a pretty face. And after that, you will need to pick out a team of pokemon we have in stock from the storage; think of it as collateral, being new, untrained and not tested for trustworthiness. You'll also need an alias and a character for yourself. I mean we wouldn't want anybody to recognize you down there, now would we? It is mandatory that we protect both your identity and the one of the Soul Salvation." Dimentio explained, signaling for some maids to hurry over.

Both maids had off-white hair pulled back in short pig-tails and were drabbed in frilly, indigo maid's outfits with white belts clipped with rhinestone _SS_'s. Their glinting eyes shone hot pink as the pair scampered over in their heels.

With no chance of refusal, Shadow once again nodded, incapable of doing much else since the maids had started poking and prodding at her hair, face, clothes, etc, before she was hauled up and out of the room.

"Have fun, Shadow!" Dimentio laughed, fully satisfied with himself.

"What are you… hey…!" Shadow shouted before she was rudely cut off with a towel being draped atop her head.

The two had shoved her into a chair and began tugging random strands of Shadow's ebony hair. There was a splat and the scraping of some concoction being stirred with a strange scent. The towel covering her sight was tossed away and the concoction, which was discovered to be hair dye, was plastered into black locks. Heat was added from above and she finally had a chance to breathe as the two maids disappeared through a door. They returned with two bags each, one of them containing a variety of make-up products.

"Um, sorry, but I'm not much of a make-up kind of person, so if you don't mind…"

The two turned with a glare that was worse than a raging charizard, and made Shadow regret opening her mouth and aggravating the unimaginably scary maids. "But on the other hand it's never too late to start, right?" She laughed nervously.

The evil maids grinned, their eyes glinting. They trotted back over to the girl, one of them chirping, "Good choice. It's either you sit through it like a good little girl or we'll do it by force."

"Just set us do our thing and we'll all get through this in one piece." The other sang, not very well either. How could two maids be so evil?

Shadow's head was dunked under scalding water, shampooed, conditioned, rinsed, and then brought back up. She gasped in a lungful of air before the ladies working in hyper speed ran a fluffy towel through her damp, who-knows-what-color hair and tugged a brush through the tangled knots. She decided to tune the rest of everything out and just let the girls do whatever they wanted while she came up with this alias of hers. She needed a personality, birthplace…

"Holy fudge!" Shadow shouted, gazing with horror at the stranger in the mirror. They were right, nobody would recognize her now; she couldn't even recognize herself! The reflective surface showed a teen sporting silvery-blue hair with small sections braided and tied with tiny black bows. It still reached mid-back and her bangs still parted to the right, slightly flopping over her now dark teal eyes, thanks to the help of contacts. A black beret sat atop her newly colored hair, held in place by various bobby pins puncturing her scalp uncomfortably. Despite her worry about the makeup, the girls went easy on her and only applied some sparkly, silver eyeliner and nude lip-gloss.

Without her realizing, the two devil maids had changed Shadow's outfit. How they managed that is beyond her. She was now drabbed in a bright ensemble of white skinny jeans and a light teal spaghetti-strap top layered under a white midriff jacket. Around her middle rested a black leather belt able to hold her six pokemon, matched with leather gloves kindly provided to hide the injuries she sustained at the House of Phantoms, and well-fit teal riding boots.

"That is _not_ me!" She exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at the mirror, wide-eyed.

"_Excuse me, but we are fast approaching our destination."_ The intercom stated.

Dimentio smirked in complacency. "But it is, dear Shadow. Now be a good girl and chose your pokemon from that back room. I shall meet you back in the sitting room in 10. Ciao."

'_I am going to go crazy in this place! Hopefully this island they're sending me to will be like a vacation.'_ Shadow prayed.

She entered a room filled with aisles upon aisles of pokeballs. _'I hope my__pokemon will fare okay in my absence. Oh God, I'm starting to talk like him!'_ She picked five sufficient pokeballs off of the shelves, using her pokedex to determine what lay inside. The sixth one somewhat chose her. It fell from the top shelf, too high for her to reach, and hit her smack in the forehead, yet again. "Hey!" She hissed, plucking the offender off of the tiled floor. According to her pokedex, it was empty.

There was a sharp tug at one of her braids, making Shadow yelp and spin around, holding the tender spot gingerly. The culprit gave a high-pitched, shrill laugh, floating around her head giddily.

"Hey, I remember you. You're that misdreavus from the Phantom House. Did you follow me?" It nodded at her question, gesturing to the pokeball. Shadow gasped as she identified the branding on the ball. She smiled sadly. "So that's why you've been following me. Do you want to come with me?" In response, the ghost prodded the ball with its nose, getting pulled in by the red beam. "I'll take that as a yes."

She found Dimentio on the couch, looking bored as his emerald orbs fixed out the window at the endless blue sea. As he heard the approaching footsteps, he peered over to the bluette. Another charming smile flashed her way and he was at her side in an instant.

"Ah, absolutely stunning. Are all the preparations complete? Wonderful, right on schedule! Here, take this." He slipped the straps of a backpack over her shoulders. "Now I want you to stay in character at all times, that is vital. You're mission is to collect as much information from this island as you can. I suspect the owner would be the best person to target. Don't get yourself killed, Shadow darling. Oh, and we've put a communicator in your bag in case we need to contact you or vice versa, so don't forget that either. We'll see you! Ciao!"

Face clouded with confusion, Shadow switched gazes from her usual backpack that was placed in her gloved hands to the straps draped over her shoulders. The door of the sleek aircraft opened not to show the ground, but the island way, way, way, way below them. And without time for a question, the dark man gave her the slightest push and out the plane she went. She screamed a line of profanities at the stupid, manipulative man as she plummeted to the ground faster a bolt of lightning. A cord met the grasp of her frantic hand. She gave it a sharp pull.

Suddenly, the ground wasn't coming up as fast as it had been. She felt like a feather softly floating on the wind while experiencing the feeling you get as you freefall. But, not knowing how to steer her life-saving parachute, she managed drift her way all the way into a tree. One of the ragged branches nicked her cheek. She swore it was mocking her. With her arms crossed, she dangled like the pieces of ripe fruit hanging in the tree.

Shadow sighed; she squirmed out of the constraining backpack straps and miraculously didn't fall on her face for what would have been about the fifth time that day. Her normal backpack replaced the tricked out one…unless they tampered with hers too. She sat on the sturdy branch directly below her, swiping a plump pecha berry on the rest of the way down the trunk.

With another stroke of luck, she had landed right in front of a towering building that looked inviting enough. She shrugged and entered anyway. But as soon as her feet passed through the entrance, she no longer was Shadow. She was yet again playing somebody she was not.

'_Remember, stay in character.' _"Excuse me." The teal-haired girl asked, getting the attention of the nurse on the other side of the desk.

Nurse Joy was somewhat surprised, looking at the clock on the wall. "Hm, you're early! Well, no matter. Smile!" The energetic Joy exclaimed as a flash went off.

"Wow, that was bright." The girl muttered, blinking away the spot of light in her vision. She plastered a happy-go-lucky smile back on her face, mimicking the Nurse Joy's.

"Name please?" Joy requested, turning to a glaring computer screen

"Eh…" _'How in the hell did I manage to forget a name?'_ "Um, R-oxy…Monroe?" She said with unintentional heavy emphasis on the "R". "Yeah, Roxy Monroe. That works." She muttered to herself.

The Joy overlooked the strange mumbling and proceeded with her questions. "Age? Home town?"

"15…Pastoria City."

"Mhm, mhm, I see." She typed on her keyboard for a few minutes. Whatever she wrote, she reread and gave an approving nod. A printer started up and within seconds, the girl was handed a card with her picture and info on it. "That is yours to keep. While you're here, it will serve as your entrance card, so be careful not to lose it. I imagine the rest of them should be arriving soon, so you may take a seat over there."

She gestured her hand over to a large living room area filled with four giant coaches, a couple of armchairs, a mahogany coffee table lined with newspapers, magazines and books, a television and a brick fireplace. The walls were painted a light bluish/gray with navy and white furniture and dark hardwood floors. A full wall length rectangular window showed a breath taking view of a berry orchard, one tree of which "Roxy" had haphazardly landed in. It now drooped with a few crooked branches, but the parachute appeared to have gotten a ride on the wind and disappeared. Beyond the trees bloomed a garden of flowers in a rainbow of colors.

Just as Joy finished explaining, a murmur of voices buzzed through the air and a crowd of trainers flowed into the building. There was about fifty of the new arrivals. They chattered avidly as they marched along and awed at the scenery. In the distance a low horn of a ship sounded its departure.

"I would like to welcome you all to Middle-of-Nowhere Island. Now, nobody is to leave the building until everybody is registered. Please form an orderly line in front of one of us and proceed to the foyer to wait for further information. Thank you." One of the three Joys at the desk announced through the bullhorn over the rowdy bunch.

Immediately, a large portion of enthusiastic trainers elbowed and stampeded their way to the front of the lines. Some of the more patient, timid or uncaring people lagged behind, letting the crowds begin to diminish.

Roxy had wandered over to a super comfortable couch and plopped herself languidly down, but continued to watch her competition from the corner of her eye. She soon found her thoughts wandering to what she needed to accomplish while she was here, then found she didn't even know how long she was stranded on this island…In the middle of nowhere. It didn't sound very reassuring.

The cushion beside her sank down as weight was added to it, snapping Roxy from her train of thought. A girl sat there, looking to be about the same age as Roxy, despite being a couple of inches shorter. Her forest green eyes lit up with excitement from under her short, orange, wispy bangs. The layered, orange hair tickled her shoulder as she bounced on the edge of her seat.

She wore a knee length, gray skirt with a sunny yellow top with subtle frills on the hems. A pair of yellow sandals also adorned her feet. She held out a beautified hand, complete with orange nail-polished long nails and a half a dozen yellow bracelets lining her wrist, jingling with the movement. "Hiya! I'm Holly!"

Roxy was stunned by the brightness for a moment before smiling. "Roxy." She went to shake the girls hand, but the girl moved it suddenly to Roxy's hair.

Holly pulled a green leaf from Roxy's teal hair, tossed away and fixed her cap all in a fluid movement. "Sorry, that's better. It was going to really bug me. Anyway, it's nice to meet you." She shook the still outstretched hand happily.

"Oh, uh, thanks." Roxy casually pulled her fingers through her long hair and smoothed out the slight tangles. Regardless, the two continued conversing, although it was more talking on Holly's part. It wasn't until Nurse Joy interrupted the noisy group that the room fell silent.

"Okay, now that that's over with, we can move right along. The first task will begin immediately: getting to know the island. You will be paired up with a fellow trainer, and you will be completing a scavenger hunt. You're map will explain you're instructions, and a tent will be provided for each team since this task will take you more than these few hours left of sunlight, maybe ever more than a full day. I would advise you to set up camp before it gets too dark and before you get too far out. And I ask that you please refrain from attempting to catch the wild pokemon. I assure you it will not work. Once you find you're partner, you can receive your map and tent and you may begin. Now, please refer to the TV screen for your matches. And good luck to you all." The pink-haired nurse bowed, finishing her speech.

Roxy and Holly read through the names until they spotted their own. "Aw, too bad we're not together. Good luck to you though!" Holly said as she blended into the crowd.

Roxy was left on her own. She decided that sitting there wasn't going to accomplish anything, so instead she hopped up and shouted, "Xena Verboom! Over here! Xena!"

"Why are you yelling? I'm right here!" Bellowed a voice extremely close to her ear. With a high-pitched shriek, she turned around to come face-to-face with a snickering purple-haired girl. The girl looked about two years older than Roxy, only about an inch taller. She had a face with high cheekbones and her lips that seemed to always be in a smile. Her long, lavender hair went down mid-back in small waves, tied in a low ponytail.

She wore a black, half jacket that had lavender on the underside of her arms and the sides of her waist, as well as the cuffs and hem of the bottom and the high collar. A long scarf wound around her neck, also purple, and trailed down to her mid back. Under the coat she wore a sleeveless black turtleneck with had a lavender design of flames and a small golden dragon woven through it. Covering her legs was a pair of lavender skinny jeans and tall combat boots with buckles and reached mid-calf. They were leather and had purple laces and another gold dragon winding up the outside of them. Both hands were clothed in purple and black horizontally striped, fingerless gloves.

Roxy chuckled, although to her it sounded forced. "Sorry. I'm Roxy." She introduced, giving what she hoped was a friendly smile while massaging her throbbing eardrum.

"I'm Xena! And we need to leave right now 'cause we're going to win this!" She exclaimed, fierceness flickering in her golden eyes. She dragged the inattentive girl to the Joys, greedily snatching the items. She didn't stop but raced out the door with Roxy in tow, kicking up dust as they ran. They hadn't gotten far before the purplenette unexpectedly stopped, her poor partner to run smack into her.

"What's wrong?" Asked a dizzy Roxy.

Xena turned around with a sweat drop. "Eh, I don't know where I'm supposed to go."

Roxy slapped her palm to her forehead. They had stopped at the edge of all the beautiful flowers, which turned out to be a maze. For an island, it seemed to cover a huge amount of space. She could see for miles in any direction. She turned back to the map that the nurse had given them. "Well, I suppose we should look at the map. Nurse Joy said it had the directions on it."

"Oh yeah. Here." Xena shoved the folded paper into Roxy's hands and once again pulled her along the road. "Read it while we run. That way we won't lose time."

With great difficulty, Roxy managed to open the information section of the package and quickly scanned through it before the two got too lost. "Uh, apparently we have to identify all the designations marked at each blank location on this map and get a pokemon's footprint to signify that we have reached each site. The closest one to us is at one of the entrances to the flower maze."

"I see it!" Exclaimed Xena, thus causing her to speed up her run to a full out sprint. She pulled on her brakes to skid right in front of a great arch bearing the sign _Central Park_.

A roselia - a small pokemon with a light green body consisting of a leaf skirt, leaves extending from its shoulders like epaulettes, rose-flowered hands, red on the right and blue on the left, three thorns on top of its head, and a pointed streak of yellow extending from its neck down the forefront of its leaf skirt - twirled out of a patch of yellow daffodils. It curtsied to the two girls before straightening out and glancing at them through its tiny black eyes. It pressed a rose budded hand to the circle in the very center of the map, marking it with the flowery print.

"Xena, what's wrong?" Roxy looked at her fidgeting partner.

Xena's golden eye twitched as her glare washed over the green, grass pokemon. She looked resistant, like she was fighting with herself. "G-grass pokemon. Must burn it…" Her hand twitched along with her eye, crawling toward her pokeballs.

Roselia, now wide-eyed with horror, lunged back into the bush of dense daffodil leaves. After the poor petrified pokemon had split, the crazed look in Xena's face faded.

"Yes! We got our first destination down. How many more is there, Roxy?" Asked Xena excitedly to the girl in possession of the large paper.

Doing a quick count in her head, the slightly younger girl announced, "According to the number of blank spots, nine," as she jotted the words Central Park across the top of roselia's signature.

"Seriously, only nine? Easy peasy. We'll finish this and be back just in time for bed. You can navigate using the map and I'll take out anything in the way. We're an awesome team! Oh, and my trusty sidekick, Feugo!" Xena opened the pokeball in her hand so the pokemon could be released.

Feugo stood at a greater than usual height, given its species. Feugo was a hefty houndoom with short black fur, vehement crimson eyes, polished silver horns and bands around his ankles. He conceitedly held his snout to the sky, eyeing the girl beside his trainer with hostility. He leaned into Xena's hand as she reached out to pet him.

"Feugo can help with the tracking too, it's one of his specialties. You should let out one of your pokemon too."

"Okay." Roxy inattentively agreed, releasing the ghost pokemon, misdreavus. Misdreaves floated around the girls' heads, pointedly yanking Xena's lavender ponytail. Hearing she painful 'ouchie!' from the girl and houndoom snap its fangs savagely at it. Roxy reassured them by saying, "Don't worry, that usually means she likes you. If she didn't then she would've pulled until you felt like your hair has been separated from your skull," in an indifferent tone while she studied the topographical depiction. "And anyway, I'm not so sure this is as easy as your thinking. Have you looked around? This place is huge! I'm guessing that these places are widely spaced out. We might be lucky if we can find another one or two before midnight."

"We'll see, now point us in the direction of the next closest location!" Xena was adamant that she would complete this before the night was over.

"It's, uh…" She rotated a complete 360 degrees, finally coming to a decision. "That way." Roxy pointed in an eastwardly route, eyes still glued to the map.

"Great, let's go!" Xena zoomed away with Roxy's wrist held firmly in her purple, fingerless-gloved hand. Feugo ambled on their heels, while the small ghost managed to hitch a ride on Roxy's cap. "Wow, you have really tiny wrists." Xena remarked.

"Oh-kay?" Roxy muttered, not too sure what to say.

The surroundings lost their green-ness the further they ran. The grass came to be speckled with teensy particles of tan. A sort of worn out path was beat down for the group to follow. The breeze was noticeably at least five degrees warmer than at the Central Park. The tiny particles turned out to be grains of fine sand, and an exquisite golden pink sunset's glow was perfectly displayed over the cerulean waves. It had taken them a while, but the sign came into view. _Sunny-day Beach_.

"Sweet. Number two!" Xena cheered as they pulled in front of the gorgeous white sand and gently lapping waves, everybody out of breath.

A shuffling of sand made them to switch their gaze downwards. A tan head with two large nostrils popped out in front of the post. A rather small earth-colored bosy followed from the burrow. It let out a large yawn, showing its large mouth and big teeth. With short stubby steps, it wobbled on all fours to Roxy, who was holding the map and set it down, and stamped its muddy-brown foot on the space. It yawned again, sinking back into its hole.

Daylight was escaping fast. The sky had already begun to darken over the island. It was the last few rays of sun left in the atmosphere. Roxy mulled over these facts as her finger trailed over the different roads left. "As I thought, we probably have time to reach only one more place before it will be too dark to continue. This beach can lead us to one of two places. The closest seems to be Southeast through the beach. Should we pursue this destination next?"

"Yeah, I guess." Xena sighed, glaring at the retreating sun. Her houndoom barked in agreement. She started off at a jog down the sand, houdoom lagging behind her obediently.

Roxy had started behind, but instantly stopped, seeing a suspicious man clad in a full black suit, tinted shades and an earpiece. He was just disappearing in the opposite direction. _'Well, that was weird. Why would there be a guard on an isolated island with no way off?'_ She shrugged. "Let's go find Xena before she gets lost while she's sulking, okay misdreavus? It tugged a piece of hair as its approval.

The beach was such a serene area; the waves delicately crashed on the shore, wingull squawked as they flew overhead, the fading sun blending appealing colors into the heavens. Roxy had taken the heavy boots off to enjoy the warm sand squishing between her toes. Her partner was sluggishly jogging a few feet ahead with her dog pokemon. She and Roxy both felt the humid air too much and had shrugged out of their long sleeved jackets.

Now left in her open-backed turtleneck, Xena's upper back was uncovered enough for Roxy to see two small, purple and gold dragon wings tattooed between her shoulder blades. She snuck up quickly behind the girl. "Nice tattoos. Dragons are amazing creatures." She complimented.

Xena looked startled out of a daze, but soon smiled brightly. "Thanks, aren't they cool?" She flipped her lavender ponytail over her shoulder and tried looking back at the wings without much luck. She rather resembled a dog chasing its tail. "I got them a couple of years ago. I just love dragon-type pokemon, and dog-like ones too. You have any tats?"

Roxy laughed a little, "Uh, no. My brother would kill me." Misdreavus, from atop her head, jerked one of her braids once again in warning. Roxy flinched, mentally slapping herself for the slip-up.

"Oh, so you have a brother? Me too! That is so cool! We have so much in common. Where are you guys from?" Xena gushed.

'_Too late to deny it now.'_ Roxy sighed. "Yeah, we're from Pa-storia City." She shook her head again. _'Why is this so hard? That's almost the second time. It's like I can't lie to her!'_ She glanced over to the purplenette, who was giving her the strangest look.

"You don't sound too sure about that." She stated seriously.

Roxy tittered nervously, "I'm sure. The heat's getting to me, I think. I really wish it was raining."

Xena's mood changed once again, "Me too! I hate the sun, well not really hate it, but it's just so _hot_ and _bright_! Rather ironic though since I live in Sunyshore City. I mean it's like the sunniest place in Sinnoh! But rain-"

"Xena?"

"-So much better than sun. Maybe I should move to Pastoria, it's supposed-"

"Xena?"

"-Rain isn't it? You should know since you live-"

_SMACK!_

Xena sat up in the cushiony material under her bottom. Her gaze lifted up to her attacker; a sign. "Hey, look! I found the sign!" She exclaimed delightedly. She threw Roxy a bright grin, to see her a bit behind her, arms crossed, a raised brow and a slight sweat-drop. "Arg, how do you _do_ that?"

Roxy cocked her head to the side, like a confused puppy. "Do what?"

"The whole eyebrow thing. It's like ones like this and this…" She demonstrated by using her index fingers to push her one brow up and the other down. "It's impossible!" She screwed her face up, trying to do it without her hands.

Roxy broke out in the largest grin, transforming into howling laughter as the girl continued. She fell to the sand beside her partner, her giggles beginning to die down. "I have a feeling this will be an interesting week."

Feugo, the houdoom, shook its head sadly, while misdreavus took the map from Roxy to let the chosen pokemon to mark it. It turned out to be a vibrava, a relatively small, bug-looking pokemon. It resembled a dragonfly with its pale yellow body, green rhombus-shaped wings bordered with brown, and four twig-like legs. Its eyes were large and green, and its tiny antennas twitched as it approached the group.

"Thanks misdreavus." Roxy took the map back from the ghost, looking up so she could copy the name off the sign. It read _Sandpit Desert_.

The sun had disappeared altogether, becoming increasingly dark. The girls decided that it would be in their best interest to start a fire with the branches of nearby palm trees and set up camp. The tent they were provided with was fairly spacious, as far as tents go, and a solid tan color. The evening drew on, and Xena had pulled out a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread from her purple backpack, which her houndoom had graciously carried for her.

"What, no jam?" Roxy joked.

"Ew, of course not." Xena curled her nose in disgust. She spread a generous amount of creamy peanut butter on four slices of bread, smashing two together and offering it to the bluette.

"Thanks." She said appreciatively, noting it was a while since she had decently ate.

"Yummm." Xena bit into her own sandwhich.

They made small talk in front of the glowing fire, which again, houndoom had started. Roxy pulled out the map and discussed what routes they would cover the next day. They joked around a lot until a crescent moon gleamed high in the sky. It was pitch black outside of their circle.

Xena rose to her feet after a period of quiet. "Well I'm going to bed. You coming?"

"No, I'm going to stay out here a bit longer." Roxy said, watching the fire cackle and pop, its orange flames licking upward. She heard the girl and her dog slip into the tent and shuffle a bit as Xena got comfortable. Her misdreavus wandered over to settle in her lap, keeping her company. "Did you notice anything weird around here, Mis?" Roxy inquired in a hushed whisper. The ghost nodded. "I thought so." She sighed.

Soft snores now came from the shared tent. Picking up the pokemon, Roxy stood as well, but headed away from the tent. She couldn't go too far because of the lack of light. When she thought she distanced herself enough, she stopped. Her hands enclosed around the other five pokeballs she carried and enlarged them all. New pokemon of a variety of sizes awoke with large yawns and stretches.

Misdreavus joined the group so they were all in a line facing the blue-haired trainer.

After misdreavus was a tall, cream-colored horse with a fiery mane, back, tail and ankles. A unicorn horn stood on its forehead right above its small, red eyes. By the looks of its slender body and strong, long legs, it was fast. Really fast. It stomped the sand and gave its head a good shake, a few sparks of fire floating off. It was a rapidash.

The earth-colored, mid-sized dog beside it yelped, jumping away as the flames hit it. Its short hair was almost the same shade as the sand, its paws, eyes and inner ears a milk chocolate tone. Its ears and tail were leaf-like and green, as well as grass blades on its chest and ankles. It looked elated to be released and to be in a nature environment. Its tiny nose sniffed the warm air of the night. It was an eeveelution; a leafeon.

The next pokemon was only a smidge smaller, standing on two short legs. It was a golden yellow with a cream underbelly and snout and darker gold spikes covering its entire back. From each yellow paw protruded lengthy, sword-like claws, and a stubby tail showed from under its spiked armor. It looked tired, its black with white iris eyes drooping. It was known as a sandslash.

Another taller pokemon of a baby blue color, also bipedal, stood. It kind of had a dinosaur look; strong arms, legs, tail, tan skin on its jaw, chest plates and a pouch looking patch in the lower part of its tummy. Its feet each had three small claws, as well as little blue horn-like scales lining its head, back, shoulders and large, mouse-like ears. It looked at its bearings with small black eyes. This one was nidoqueen.

The last pokemon in the line was bigger still, standing maybe a foot above the girl. It was a penguin-like pokemon with slippery, navy blue skin. Its feet actually appeared to have webbing on them. Its wings were tipped with blue metal and had three golden claws sticking out at the bottom. It had a short, blue, metal fin sticking out of its back and another fin that was on the front of its body that extended to where its chin would be, then split to form some sort of collar. It had a tie like fin in the middle of its belly, and the collar coming off it. There was a lace-like pattern of white coloration on its front, and it had two gold-colored spots on its upper-back. Its most prominent feature was the three-horned trident-like crest that extended from its beak. It silently stood with a bored looking face. She knew it to be called empoleon.

Roxy explained the situation to her temporary team. They mostly seemed pretty understanding and willing to help the girl. She sat with them for about a half an hour, just so they would get used to her presence and know she was their friend. If this was going to work, they were going to have to have at least a little trust in her, and her in them.

Still seated with the group, Roxy sifted through the contents in her bag, giving the pokemon each a handful of poffins before setting them aside to continue the search. "Blast it, Dimentio messed my whole bag up." She muttered. Finally, she found the object that did not belong. It was a palm-sized device, of course black in color. There were half a dozen buttons, but the one she pressed was call. '_No service_' flashed across the screen.

"Excuse me? No service? How am I supposed to contact people if this place doesn't get service?" She swore at the thing. "Hey rapidash, could I climb on your back for a moment?" The horse nodded, standing. Even with the higher elevation, the message still said the same thing. With another curse, Roxy massaged her temples. "I'll figure this out in the morning. Get some sleep guys." She called back all of her pokemon and walked back to the tent.

Her partner was in a deep sleep. She followed her example and lay down to shut her eyes, hoping for once she would have an undisturbed rest.

* * *

_**Xena does not belong to piano-girl9989. Xena is the creation of Crimson. light. of. Death. All credit goes to her. **_:)

Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. There will be more of, ahm, Shadow/Roxy/? & Xena next time. Plus a new character! That's for you, you know who you are. ;)

Until next time. Ciao!


	19. something against the male species?

**Pokémon**

Hey! Ok, so I was feeling lazy yet again, so I decided to slack off on checking my work again. Sorry. I just hope I don't make too many mistakes. Anyway, I'd like to thank **RikkaMira** for informing me that it was the story's anniversary! I honestly had no idea until I read your review. And thanks for the compliments too. :) And in celebration of the one year anniversary, I give you an update!

**Chapter # 19 – "...something against the male species?"**

Like always, the girl going by the alias 'Roxy' woke with a start. She had to wrestle to get out of her tangled sleeping bag. Slow breathing came from her right, startling her a bit before grasping her present predicament; she was stranded on an island. "Xena? It's time to wake up." She said, moving to shake the girl.

The big, black canine curled up by its trainer's head snarled at Roxy. "No." Groaned the purplenette, sinking her body deeper into her blankets.

"Come on, I thought you wanted to get started ASAP." She replied, throwing her makeshift bed in her backpack and throwing it over her shoulders.

"It's too early!"

"Are you kidding? The sun is already up; it's like noon!"

Xena sighed. Her canine had decided it was time to get up too and nudged his trainer to do the same. "Feugo!" She whined. Finally she sat up. "Alright, I'm up! Don't get your panties in a bunch." It took about 10 minutes and they were out investigating the island.

The sun was a scorcher, burning down on the beach at a temperature only a fire pokemon like houndoom could enjoy. The females felt themselves turning red after only a few minutes. Even the ocean looked more like a hot tub.

"I can't take this much longer. I'm going to _die_ in this heat" Xena was bent at the waist with her arms drooping lifelessly over her head. She dragged her bare feet through the sand, making a long trench. "If I knew it was going to be this horrible, I would've walked all last night to get off this stupid beach."

Roxy wasn't taking the heat so well either. It was too hot to even think. So when she had a sudden brain wave, she started feeling really dim-witted. "Xena? Why haven't called out some of our pokemon to help us out?" Xena fell to the ground.

"Wow, we really didn't think of that before?" Xena puffed, taking a break on the ground. "Well, Feugo doesn't mind the heat, but he's not that fast. I have a flygon that wouldn't be bothered either, but he's pretty slow too."

Roxy pondered over her team. "Oh, I know! Rapidash, come on out!" The fiery horse neighed at the two, stomping its hooves. It raised its head appreciatively towards the sun.

"Yippy, a horsy!" Xena cheered, jumping on its back and returning her houndoom at the same time. "Come on, let's go, let's go, we're losing daylight here! Get on, Roxy."

'_Wow, these insane people everywhere these days.'_

Now set with a speedy ride, Xena and Roxy crossed the sandy terrain double time. The momentum allowed a cool wind to spread over the girls' baking skin. Their surroundings changed a bit; rapidash's hooves clapped against hard ground; boulders and rubble stuck out everywhere, and the water was now about a 50feet drop from the cliffs overhanging. They also passed a dozen or so caves.

"Stop now, rapidash." Roxy said. She dropped in front of a sign.

The area beyond it was a monstrous mountain that went beyond the clouds with a narrow winding trail to the top. The summit looked snowy and cold, and it blew a frigid gust over the girls, making a shiver travel up their spine. A snover – a white, green and brown tree-looking pokemon – was at the base to greet them. It stamped their next place, and over it, Roxy wrote _Frostbite Mountain_.

Xena was in awe. "Wow, this is so cool. It's like the island is a natural biodome; it has a sunny beach, a cold mountain, I wonder if they have like a rainforest."

And as though she were psychic, the area beyond the grassy field they crossed was a tropical rainforest, named _Symme-tree (Symmetry) forest_. There was a semi-beaten path into the forest, but without wandering inside the view was limited. The trees towered above their heads and the air was refreshingly cool and moist. Heavy, dark rain clouds hung over the entire woodland area as far as they could see. And another thing: everything looked exactly the same.

After completing the necessary arrangements, Roxy hesitated, holding back her oblivious partner. "Uh, Xena? I know that the path to the next destination is through the forest, but not only does that sound dangerous, but it also looks even worse to navigate through. We could very well end up getting lost in there for days. Not only could a rainfall wash our path away, but even your houndoom wouldn't be able to pick up our scent. There has to be another way."

Xena seemed to consider what the bluette was saying. It was like a light bulb went off in her head. "I've got it!" She snapped her fingers ingeniously. She motioned her partner closer and started not-so-quietly whispering in her ear…

"I can't believe how easy that was, man!" An irking loudmouth bellowed as he guffawed. "Getting this map was like taking candy from a baby!"

"Yeah, those losers actually thought he could beat us in a battle? We're the most powerful team here!" Another voice joined. "Hey look, we finally found the exit, dude! And with this loser's map we're gonna finish this thing before everybody else."

The cacophonous pair came into view, both with similar leather outfits and bulging muscles. One wore a backwards cap over his cropped hair, clothes that looked two sizes too big and a pair of shades. The other looked like a biker with his ragged, leather vest, ripped jeans, steel-toed boots and shaved head. They were a bit older than the girls and a foot taller with frivolous looks.

"Ready?" Xena whispered. They were perched in a particularly strong branch on one of the easily climbable trees, Xena with a huge boulder tucked into her lap. With an approving nod from her partner, she silently counted '3…2…1...' and let the mass crash to the ground. The whole tree shook while there were a couple startled shouts from below.

"You didn't hurt them, did you?" Roxy questioned lackadaisically as she peered down around the curtains of leaves.

"I hope so! Those guys sound like a bunch of mean jerks!" Xena leapt the whole way down, landing on all fours like a feline.

"Says the one who just threw a boulder where two boys were walking!" Her partner shouted after her as she took a much more cautious route down. She went beside her partner to see the two men strung from a net in mid-air, the boulder being used as a counterweight.

"Look what we have here, two fatheads hanging around in a tree. And they dropped something for us." Xena sauntered over and plucked the paper off the ground and scanned it. "Oh, and they only need one more!"

"Hey, get you're mitts off our map. It's not yours!"

"Evidently by the way you were talking earlier it's not yours either." Roxy countered earnestly, her map being replaced with the stolen one.

"And I don't remember there being any specific rules against this." Xena finished, throwing the useless one over her shoulder. It got caught on the wind and whisked away. "Thanks for all your help!" She cheerily added, skipping outside of the woods and leaving the indignant boys behind.

"Well that worked out better than I originally thought. I think we have just enough time for this last one and to get back just around dark." Roxy announced, raising herself up on the steed where her partner eagerly waited.

"Great! Giddy up!" Xena clicked her tongue and the horse shot off.

Their last stop was a highly active volcano way down at the Southern part of the island. It wasn't as tall as the other mountain on the island, but sinister soot billowed from the summit of the volcano, blackening the atmosphere and you could practically hear the boiling lava threatening to erupt. Needless to say Roxy and Xena didn't stay any longer than need be.

They made it back to the main house just about six o-clock. Other trainers were just arriving at the same time too, checking in with the Joy's. Xena and Roxy joined them. It was around the same time the next night before all of the competitors returned.

"_Would everybody please make their way to the Courtyard for an announcement? Thank you."_

The trainers piled out of the main building and created a semicircle around a newly placed podium. Standing on it was a man in his early thirties in a casual, yet expensive tweed suit and a pair of sophisticated, dark-rimmed glasses. He tapped on the microphone to gather the attention of chattering people, and then lent forward. "Good evening, ladies and gentleman. I am Gregory Schermann, the owner of Middle-of-Nowhere Island. It is a great honor to have so many guests for this year's competition. Now, this year we have decided to mix things up a bit and make this a battle of the genders. You have each been paired with a partner of the same sex, and you will be working with this person throughout most of the competition. For each event you complete, you will be awarded points, determined by how well you did. On the last day, your points will be added with the other teams of your same gender to decide a winning team. Yes, you have a question?" He pointed to a boy with a raised hand.

An obnoxious voice spoke from within the clump of people. "You mean there won't be one person named the best? It will be the whole team, even if some don't really deserve it?"

"I was getting to that. There will also be one challenge that only one will be named the winner. That individual will be named King or Queen of the Island, and we'll throw a huge party for them that night. There is another event that will be a tag-team contest, judged by our three lovely Joys. I'm telling you this in advance because it will require a great deal of time to synchronize a performance with your partner. Those of you that have never participated in a contest before better hope their partner has, or know somebody that has." He smirked wickedly. "Until this time you will have daily events that you will be notified of the morning of by myself. There are dorms behind the Grand Hall, one building for boys and the other for girls." He gestured behind the building where they had checked in where two slightly smaller buildings sat. "We have already assigned two pairs to a room. You will find the arrangements written on each door. Breakfast will be served at 7 sharp, lunch, if you're here, at noon and dinner also at 7, all in the Grand Hall. Oh, and one more thing before you leave. No communication devices work on this island. Now, girls please proceed to the dorm rooms to the right, boys to your left and meet in the Hall in one hour."

'_That explains why Dimenio's thing won't work' _Roxy thought as she followed the flow of females rushing through the double doors to check out the dormitory. There was a spacious room as you entered for sitting and talking, resembling the foyer in the Grand Hall except with lighter colors. A few girls had their noses glued to a windowpane looking into a massive indoor pool, hot tub, and gym. There were seven doors down an expansive hallway. Five had an erasable whiteboard posted to them with four names written across each, and a card slot. The other two rooms were luxurious bathrooms, each easily able to fit all 20 girls with enough space left over to breath freely.

Roxy found her name posted on room # 3, along with Xena Verboom, Holly Heartland, and Nicky Langille. She swiped the card she was given when she registered and opened the door as it approved her with a flashing green light.

The room was just as impressive as the rest of the buildings. It was a fair size for four girls. It had two bunk beds with purple and pink sheets, a television hooked up with a game system and a stack of games, a bookcase packed with books of various genres, a boom box for listening to music or the radio, and a window with a view of the berry orchard all around them.

"Hey Roxy. We're sharing a room together? That's great!" The cheerful redhead named Holly said as she set her shoulder bag down and gave her a strong hug. She stepped back to motion to a girl behind her. "This is my partner, Nicky."

The tall girl had her wide, bright blue eyes fixed appreciatively on the game system. Long, messy, dirty-blond hair cascaded down the back of her azure pullover hoodie and stopped just above the pant line of her gray cargo pants. A black and gray-rimmed ball cap with a blue skull sat sideways atop her head. She had a somewhat punk look to her. She gave a small smile. "Hi." Without another word she walked over and began flipping through game titles.

Xena popped her head through the door, exclaiming, "They even have a training arena! This place is amazing!" She realized there were two unknown people in the room and stepped in to introduce herself.

"It's almost time for dinner, should we head over now?" Holly asked, looking at a bedside clock. Everybody gladly agreed and began the short walk to the large building.

"Hey, is that…?" Xena stopped walking, sheltering her golden eyes with her hand as though the sun was glaring in them. "It is, it's… Paul!" She shrieked, shooting off like a bullet and wildly waving her arms in the air.

Yes…_that_ Paul. He turned to look over his shoulder upon hearing his name. His eyes widened for a second like a deer caught in headlights as he spotted the girl. Quickly, he sidestepped the attack so Xena bowled right into his partner. Not that he cared.

Xena however, didn't notice the change at first and continued to hug the boy on the ground. It wasn't until she looked up to speak to him that she realized she tackled the wrong person. She smiled like a Cheshire cat seeing the boy under her with red cheeks. "Well hello there. How you doing?" When she didn't get up, the boy looked like his face caught fire. Xena found this highly amusing and giggled as she slowly stood up.

"Xena! What are you doing? You might have hurt that poor boy. Do you have something against the male species?" Roxy, who had rushed after the girl, demanded exasperatedly as she pulled the tomato-red boy to his feet. Once seeing Paul, she whipped around as if to hide.

"Eh, Roxy is something wrong?" Xena asked her fleeing friend. Paul looked straight at her, waiting for her answer as well.

'…_Why am I trying to hide, anyway?'_ "Oh, um, I was looking for Holly and Nicky. We kind of ditched them."

"Oh." Xena accepted this response and turned back to the boy. "Pauly, that wasn't very nice." The purplenette jutted out her bottom lip. "It's almost like you're not happy to see me."

Paul made a face as though to say "not happy doesn't even begin to express what I'm feeling right now". He wore a scowl on his face, completely opposite to Xena. Yet, they seemed to hold some sort of similarities. Maybe it was just the purple hair.

"What's going on? Who're they?" Holly and Nicky asked as they finally caught up.

Xena responded by slinging an arm over Paul's shoulders, and him glaring at her while trying to push her off. "I'd like everybody to meet my little cousin Paul and his partner… what was you're name?" She turned back to the boy she had jumped.

"J-Justin." He stuttered bashfully, nudging the ground with his foot.

"Well…" Roxy said, filling in the awkward silence. "I'm starving. Let's get something to eat." She prompted turned on her heel, not bothering to see if anybody was going to follow.

In the back of the Grand Hall's foyer was a door that led to a dining area. Trainers were lined up to help themselves to a buffet while others sat to eat at long wooden tables able to sit eight. Everybody had their plates piled full as they went to join tables.

Xena, once again, put it upon herself to drag her partner over to the table where her cousin was eating silently. To his right was his shy partner, Justin, and to his left sat a familiar brunette. Across from the brunette sat a raven-haired boy with golden ringed, amber eyes taking in the entire room as though he were analyzing every inch and every corner.

Xena, seeing a tint of pink still in Justin's face decided to tease him more by pointing to his lap while asking, "Hey, is that seat taken?" Like she had hoped, the boy burned a fiery red again, watching his food like it was the most captivating thing in the world. She just laughed as she pushed Roxy in across from Paul and plopped herself down next to her.

Roxy really wished she could disappear right then. The brunette was starting at her since they arrived at the table and she felt like he was gazing into her soul. She forced a smile and said, "Hi, I'm Roxy. It's nice to meet you all."

"Dark." The raven-haired boy muttered beside her.

"Paul." The scowling purplenette stated harshly as he stabbed his food and not-too subtly elbowed the brunette in the gut.

"Watch it, _Paul_." He taunted. "I'm Gary Oak. Sorry, you just remind me of somebody I know." Roxy shrugged at him.

It was a rather…awkward dinner. Roxy felt one person or another was watching her at every minute as she poked away at her meal. Xena didn't exactly feel all that awkward, since she talked persistently throughout the whole thing. Most of the other's remained quiet for the most part. Gary and Paul had fallen into a hushed conversation at their end of the table, and turned to the two girls.

"Hey, you two would have seen most of the girls here. Have you seen anybody by the name of Alex? Brunette, has an eevee…" Gary described.

"Hm, no I think I saw almost every girl here and goes by that name or looks like that. Why, is she your girlfriend?" Xena asked, leaning in attentively on the crook of her hand, a sly smirk plastered on her face.

Roxy laughed nervously. "Y-Yeah, I haven't seen anybody like that either." She quickly stood up. "Well, I'm heading back to the dorms now. Maybe take a nice, long walk. Night guys." She hurriedly rushed out of the building with a sigh.

Sticking her fingers in the pockets of her pants, she slowly scuffed her way back to her room. She set her bag on one of the lower beds and pulled out the top item. The black device for contacting the SS. She studied it for a long time. She supposed that the fact that her communications were cut off would be in the interest of the SS, but she had no other way of reaching them other than that small object. It was rather strange how there was no source of communication off the island. Maybe there was an intentional disturbance in the signals. But why would somebody block the communications. Dimentio had said that the owner knows something, could it have something to do with that? What if she could out of the islands range? Would it work then?

Xena arrived back shortly after her, sighing contentedly as she teetered over to her bed and collapsed. She rubbed her tummy while slightly groaning, "I think I might have ate too much."

Roxy giggled, then remembered something useful to her. "Hey Xena, could I ask a favor? You said you have a flygon, right? Could I borrow him for a little while?" Turning onto her side, Xena started at her with blank eyes. Roxy shifted nervously under the gaze, continuing, "You know, so I can get an aerial view of the island to get an upper edge."

Shaking her head, Xena smiled. "Sorry, I was thinking about something. That sounds like an awesome idea! You're thinking like a real winner now!" She tossed a pokeball over to Roxy's waiting hands. "Be careful though, Kite can get distracted _very_ easily."

Roxy released the green, dragon-type pokemon from her partner's pokeball. It chirped happily at the bluette. It was a bit chubby, kind of reminding her of a hippo. A protective, transparent, red bubbles acting like goggles covered its sharp eyes on its proportionally smaller head. Like its pre-evolution, vibrava, it had rhombus shaped wings, green bordered in bold red, except unlike a vibrava's, its wings were larger and stronger. Its legs and arms were short and stubby each with three claws, and its tail fairly long with three tiny versions of its wings like feathers on the end of it.

"Hi, Kite. I'm Roxy, Xena's friend." She held out a hand for the dragon to sniff. It then rubbed its cheek fondly against her palm. "Do you think you could take me in the air?"

High in the atmosphere, the rather buggish-looking dragon spread its wings and did random spirals and zipped at different intervals. They were near the beach, so the wind was naturally gusty. It was also wonderfully clear, perfect for flying.

Roxy unclipped the black device from her belt and again tried to contact Dimentio. He answered almost immediately. _"Why hello there, Shadow. What can I do for you?"_

"We might have a slight problem." She soberly replied. "Something on or near this island is disrupting the signals of all communication devices. Contact is not going to be easy. And that guy, Schurmann, he's got guards lingering around."

"Sounds like Schurmann has got something to hide. As for the communication, how is it your able to contact me now?"

"It's…complicated."

"Alright, well the only thing you can do for now is find out what exactly he is hiding. And Shad-…do…" The line went dead. Roxy felt a lot more of a draft whipping past her now than a few minutes ago. At first she had thought nothing of it, that it was just a passing gust. It didn't pass. That's when she realized. She hadn't heeded to Xena's warning, and now the dragon was struggling to get out of a sharp nosedive, and then somersaulting onto its back. Roxy shrieked and screamed, clinging to the pokemon's long neck. Her hair whipped at her face. With a lot of squirming on both parts, the pokemon managed to roll onto its stomach again, enabling Roxy her vision back.

"Pull up! Pull up! Pull up!" She screamed repeatedly.

Flygon unfolded his tangled wings at the very last minute. It was too late. It belly-dived to the ground, throwing Roxy off on impact. They slid a good couple of meters before they completely stopped.

"Owww." Roxy moaned, getting up very slowly. "I really need to work on my landing. Are you okay, Kite?" It sang sorrowfully, shaking itself off. "It's okay, it was my fault really." She said, rubbing its small head. It twittered cutely and allowed her to return him to his pokeball.

Roxy had now landed in one of the worst possible places: beyond the borders of what she guessed was the forest that she had wanted to avoid. She had to crane her neck all the way back to see the tops of the too-similar-to tell-apart trees. Everything was green.

After fixing herself to be semi-presentable, besides some pesky dirt stains, she gave her best shot at trying to find a way out. It didn't lead her to an exit, but it was definitely better than nothing. "Hey, you're Dark, right? We met at dinner." She stated, sauntering into a clearing of sorts to find the raven-haired boy and two pokemon.

She could fully see him now. He wore a dark blue leather-like jacket, a white T-shirt with dark gray under armor, a pair of regular blue jeans and well-worn sneakers. Uncomfortably, he ran a hand through his short, spiky black hair, his amber eyes refusing to look at her, but at his pokemon.

One pokemon was a weavile. Weavile's appearance looked like that of a bluish-black, bipedal feline, clad in a bright red crown, and collar. It had two tails, instead of three like its pre-evolved form, sneasel. Unlike its pre-evolved form, there was no gem on its chest, and it had three claws on each paw as opposed to just two. Its red eyes seemed to be boring into the girls head, not particularly fond of her for some reason.

The other was called a poochyena. It was a small puppy pokemon, commonly with ebony fur, but this one was a dark blue. They stood in front of a clump of trees with large gashes in them were attacks had hit.

"Yeah." Was his monotonous answer.

Roxy, a bit put off but not showing it by plastering a bright smile on her face, replied, "So, Dark, do you think you could help me get out of here? I'm sort of lost."

Dark sighed as though he wasn't very keen on the idea. "You should pay more attention to your surroundings." He recalled his poochyena and began walking away with his weavile seated on his shoulder, releasing another pokemon, a luxray. "You coming or not?"

Taking this as a sign to follow, Roxy took off to catch up with the boy. He didn't talk very much, creating a rather unpleasant silence. To her dismay, there were loads of bug pokemon crawling in the scarily large forest. The boy's luxray had its extremely helpful vision activated to guide them in the right direction. "So, you're partners with Gary?" She asked in a small attempt to coax the boy into conversation. Awkward silences just weren't fun at all.

"Yup." Failed attempt number one.

"That weavile of yours looks really strong, I hope I'll get to battle you sometime."

"Sounds good." No emotion change, just placid with slight irritation. Failed attempt number two.

His lack of response was starting to irk Roxy, so still with a smile pretty much cemented to her face, she snapped, "Are you always like his cold or are you treating me specially?"

"No." Even Paul would say more than that. Does that say something or what?

She didn't even try after that. He led her out safely muttering a "later" as he left. She noticed as he walked away a device glinting in the setting sun looking just…like…hers…

'…_That might explain the attitude. But somebody has some explaining to do to me!'_ Roxy huffed, stomping all the way back to her room. Her roommates had somehow been dragged into playing truth or dare, which she assumed was Xena's idea, as she immediately attempted to convince Roxy to join in. She simply replied with a roll of her eyes and sat down in the mini circle. They turned out the lights around midnight.

Roxy was awake early, as per usual. To her surprise, Holly was already awake and reading a book with a small flashlight in her hand. They went to breakfast together as the Grand Hall opened, joined by the others as they rose. As everybody finished eating, Gregory, the islands owner, stood at the front of the room and cleared his throat to turn the attention to him.

"Good morning everybody. I trust you are all well rested for today's event. Now, this is not only were you'll be eating, but underneath your feet is a battling stadium. Today, you will be doing an elimination tag-team challenge. You must fight your way through the other pairs to become the champions. This will allow everybody to see your competitions pokemon and strategy without having practiced with your own partner. The winning team will receive the most points for their overall house, and they will also have an advantage in the next challenge. Are you ready? Then please follow me down one floor to begin."

He pressed a button and a wide staircase opened up in a far away wall. It was a giant stampede down the stairs and into the stands where everybody was seated along one wall once again to hear more directions.

The four-sided TV screen elevated in the middle of the room blared into action, showing the man. "Now, when you hear your names you will move to the corner you were called to and wait for the other team. When all participants are ready, you will each release one pokemon. The tag team with pokemon still standing will be declared the winners and will enter the next round. The matches will be randomly selected by our computers and judged by our lovely Nurse Joy! Alright, those are the rules so here we go!"

A drum role echoed through the arena and everybody had their fingers crossed to be the first chosen.

The pictures of four trainers appeared on screen…

* * *

**Dark also doesn't belong to Piano-girl9989. Dark is the creation of KitsPokePeople. **

See, I told you he'd be in this one. :) Anyway, thank you, readers. I have very big plans for later chapters, just saying. So stay tuned for more!

And reviews = happy Piano-girl, which is great for inspiration to write! Which means, please review! Good night, everybody!


	20. Operation SPRAS

**Pokémon**

Well I have officially had the worst week. I'm not sure why now that I think about it, it just really sucked. And now I have to babysit tonight until 12, which has pretty much just ruined my Halloween weekend as well. And I feel like complaining right now so if you're reading this and making you feel down as well, then I'm very sorry =.=" But can I just say that I am majorly excited for the chapter after this one and the one after that as well. Like, you have no idea. Well, until then, I give you more Off to Sinnoh! Enjoy!

**Chapter 20- Operation SPRAS**

The pictures of four trainers appeared on screen, and four trainers made their way to the field.

"In the red corner we have Chad Miles and Chris Slone!" The boys stood with domineering stances, seeming quite vain about their battling situation. That was, until they saw their opponents.

"And in the blue corner we have Xena Verboom and Roxy Monroe!" The bluette and purplenette duo took their places, the latter grinning like a mad woman. Holly and Nicky cheered loudly from the audience.

"Eh, it's them girlies that stole our map!" The boy named Chad exclaimed, the one with the muscles, biker-look and bellowing voice. "You're gonna get it for that!"

"Yeah, nobody gets away with messing with the most powerful team here," Chris, the other, punkish one, stated.

"We'll see about that!" Xena hollered over. "We're going to win this, right Roxy?" Her partner nodded, mostly to make the girl happy so she wouldn't go off on another rant of the importance of confidence and winning. Apparently, it wasn't a very pretty sight when she lost.

"Alright, trainers, choose your pokemon. Begin!"

"Take them down!" Both males called. Chad's pokemon was a massive steel snake-like pokemon named steelix. Its body was made up of rock-like sections, harder than diamond, some of which had massive rock spikes coming out of them. It also had fierce red eyes, making it look even more intimidating.

Chris' pokemon was a machamp. It was an extremely muscled pokemon with a grayish body, red eyes and a frog-like mouth with and tan ridges atop its head. It had four strong arms and two legs with two toes each, and wore a legless, black girdle with a golden belt.

"Here we go!" Xena and Roxy called out. Xena's trusty houndoom howled in front of her, and empoleon, the large penguin, for Roxy.

"Steelix, make them feel your strength! Use iron tail!" Chad called while flexing his biceps.

"Dynamic punch, machamp!"

The large snake lifted its heavy, stony tail as it glowed white and threw it the oversized penguin. Machamp ran towards the black canine, its fist thrown back and charging with concentrated energy.

"Feugo, hit it with your flamethrower, max power!" Houndoom gave its incoming opponent a malicious smile, causing the pokemon to falter in its attack. He tossed his head back and blasted machamp with an enormous flame. The muscled pokemon blinked several times as though it didn't comprehend what happened and fell over, black haze simmering from its cindered gray skin.

"Amazing, Chris' machamp was completely KO'd by Xena's houndoom!" Nurse Joy announced from her little station floating above the ring.

It was Roxy's turn to call out her attacks. "Empoleon, defend yourself with steel wing and then use hydro pump." Crossing its shining flippers in an X shape, the penguin held off the iron tail enough to avoid being injured and skidded back. A ball of water formed in its mouth and shot directly into steelix's face. The giant pokemon roared as it fell back slightly.

Chad, looking red in anger, yelled, "Take that punk out, steelix! Use hyper beam!"

"Flamethrower, once more." Since flamethrower took less time to charge than hyper beam, Xena's houndoom attacked first. The steel pokemon fell hard.

"And that's it! Moving on to the next round is Xena and Roxy, congrats!"

"We won!" Xena punched her fist in the air victoriously.

The boys gaped. "W-we lost? How is that possible? Our pokemon are the strongest here."

The battle's continued. More and more teams were eliminated. Some of the battles were getting longer, and of course more difficult. Regardless of how long the trainers watching were sitting, they were still on the edge of their seats through the raging battles.

"Hey look, you're cousin is up against Gary and Dark." Roxy remarked, pointing to the four trainers entering the field.

Xena looked up from her jar of peanut butter, spoon still sticking out of her mouth. "Oh, go Paul! Woah! You can do it, Paul! And…what's his partner's name again?"

"Justin I think. He looked so shy before but now that he's in a battle he actually looks pretty confident."

"He does, doesn't he…?"

Justin and Paul had a team of cloyster and magmar. Cloyster was a water/ice type pokemon with a spiky shell, six of which were long and conical, resembling turrets, used to protect its soft insides from foes. It had an inner, gray-colored layer inside its purple shell. Its "head" and face resembled a black pearl, and there was a jutting, horn-like white spike above its "head". When an attack came its way, it closed up its shell to create a strong defence, thus making it a tough opponent to defeat.

Magmar was playing most of the offense in the battle. Magmar was a fire pokemon that had a red body with a yellow flame design on it, and a yellow tail that also had a flame on it. It had yellow thighs, black legs and red feet with two toes each, and its arms were covered in red, rigid scales with red hands each having five fingers. A row of red spikes ran down its back. There were two lumps on its forehead with a flame on top of each one, and a yellow beak.

On Gary and Dark's side stood the great fire canine, arcanine, and the electric lion, luxray.

Arcanine was a giant dog with its head covered in a cream-colored hair, except for the region around its eyes and ears, which was orange. Its body was a combination of the same orange fur with black stripes and completely black fur on its belly. It also had patches of cream-colored fur on its chest, legs and tail, resembling smoke. Its paws each had three toes and a round, pink pawpad underneath.

Luxray was a more feline pokemon, highly resembling a fully-grown lion. It had three, yellow rings on the backs of its legs, similar to Luxio (its pre-evolution) and had red eyes. Luxray had a spiky black mane that covered its head down to its legs. Its back legs were black and blue and it had a black tail with a yellow star-like shape on the tip.

"Luxray, use thunder bolt again!" Dark commanded. The feline charged electricity and shot it at cloyster.

Justin countered, "Cloyster, protect now." The pokemon clamped its rock hard shells shut, glossing over with a protective barrier. The attack bounced off of it.

Paul was up next. "Magmar, use rock tomb, on luxray."

"Arcanine, cover luxray! Use extreme speed, now!" The dog disappeared from their vision and rammed into magmar to stop it from summoning the attack. It kept going and tackled it again and again as it flew through the air.

A bright white light washed over magmar, causing arcanine to skid back to its original side to see what was happening.

"Oh my, that was some lovely teamwork from arcanine, but it appears now that magmar is evolving. Will it be able to match the new pokemon's strength?" Nurse Joy spoke through her microphone.

Magmar grew larger, becoming completely visible as the transformation finished. Its legs were similar to magmar's except that magmortar had pink thighs and its legs were smaller in proportion to its body than magmar's. Instead of a beak and two flame-like horns it had as a magmar, magmortar had pink lips and one singular flame on its head. Its other notable features were the two rows of pink spikes running down its back, red and yellow flame stripes on its body and a tail that was entirely covered in flames.

Xena groaned, sinking into her seat. "Roxy, this is so boring! When do we get to battle again?" She had her spoon scooping more of the PB from the large jar, her golden eye peeking in the container. Every second they weren't battling, she would pull it out of her backpack and devour more of it.

"Are you kidding? This is the best part!" Roxy exclaimed, stuffing a chocolate bar down her throat and washing it down with a blue-colored, sugar sufficient energy drink. "But the semifinals are up next, so we're probably in the next round."

Holly looked disgusted with the group. "Do you have _any_ idea how bad that is for you? All of you?" They stared blankly with the girl, and then laughed at her as they continued eating their junk food. Holly huffed, popping an orange carrot stick into her mouth with a loud _crunch_. "Fine, but you'll be the ones to blame when you get fat and die at an early age.

"Geeze, Dude, you need to chill." Nicky held a large, crinkling bag under her partner's nose. "Have a cheezie."

"No thanks!" She gagged, turning away.

The semifinals came and went. Xena and Roxy had ended up against their own roommates, ending with the former as the winners. It was time for the final match. The lights had lowered dramatically in the stadium and the lights shone solely on the field. The four trainers were Roxy and Xena, of course, and a scowling Dark with his smiling partner, Gary. All four trainers summoned their pokemon to the field.

On Gary's side roared a blue tortoise-looking pokemon called blastoise, with a tough, brown shell and two powerful, steel cannons jutting out from the top of its shell. Blastoise had a blue body, its small head topped with two small, triangular ears and brown eyes. Its arms, legs and tail were short and stubby, but strong looking.

Poochyena – the small, navy furred puppy – was Dark's choice. The fur on its face and legs were slightly darker than the rest of its body. Its eyes had yellow scleras and red irises, and it had a red nose on the end of its snout.

Roxy and Xena threw out their pokemon, two of the eeveelutions appearing: leafeon and espeon.

Espeon was a lavender colored, cat-looking pokemon with two large ears with navy insides and long tufts of fur underneath. A ruby gem sat in the middle of its head above its large, almond-shaped, violet-colored eyes with white irises. Its tail was long and slim with a small fork at the end.

Xena slightly twitched at her partner's choice, before shouting. "Now, let's go!"

* * *

"Roxy, I'm bored!" Complained the purplenette, on her back and hanging over the side of her bed. She sighed for the hundredth time, playing with her lavender hair that she had freed from her elastic, so it now spilled over the edge of her bed like a waterfall. Her usually sparkling eyes were miserably dull as she moped. The pale orbs followed her pokemon, the baby in her group named Kaze, as she still brooded about her loss of the final tag team battle.

Kaze was a riolu – a small, bipedal, dog-like, blue and black creature. It was currently leaping from one top bunk to the other, giggling as it bounced. It landed on the bluette's shoulder every once and a while, giving her a smile and what could only be described as vibes of happiness.

Misdreavus and Roxy were seated at the desk with a notepad opened. Roxy jotted something every once in a while before she got frustrated and scribbled it out desperately with a heavy, bold line. It was at these times the little child pokemon popped over in attempts to cheer her up. Roxy also heaved a resentful sigh. "I know. You told me that twenty-four times already."

"Well, we should go do something. Why did we even get the day off today?"

It was a week after they had lost the tag team battles. Xena was in a pretty crappy mood for the first couple of days, but they continued quite well through many activities and events that keep them preoccupied. But today, Schurmann had declared there would be nothing planned for the entire day and to use the free time wisely. They could do whatever they wanted for the whole day. Many of the girls had quickly decided to make it a beach day and soak up the rays. Roxy and Xena were not fond of the idea at all. Roxy had "business" to attend to, leaving just a brooding Xena.

"He did say to use it wisely, so it's probably to give a chance to train, possibly for the tag-team contest that he had mentioned." Roxy deduced automatically. She recorded something on the paper, muttering, "If that's the case, then where would it be…?"

There was movement behind her, along with Xena's voice. "Hey, Kaze, what do you have there?" Roxy briefly turned her head apathetically. Her teal orbs widened. On her bed sat the cute, little riolu surrounded with the contents of her backpack and the black Soul Salvation device in its paws. It curiously sniffed it, tapping one of the buttons. It bleeped softly.

"What do you think your doing, silly?" Roxy laughed, gently taking the mechanism away. She was going to turn it off before unnecessary questions were asked, but the screen blinked at her. Smirking shrewdly, she said, "Actually, Xena, I know what we're going to do today."

* * *

Xena flattened her back against the wall of the Grand Hall, peeking around the corner, then behind her before rolling out of the spot, landing on one knee in front of the door. She held her hands together with her index fingers pointing like a gun. Glancing back and forth once again, she tried to pull the doors open. They didn't budge. "This is Xena to Roxy, over. The main door won't open…maybe it's a trap! Abort mission, I repeat, abort mission!" She screamed into a walkie-talkie.

Walking calmly around the corner, the bluette shook her head dismally. She nudged Xena out of the way and gave a small push, the doors giving in to the pressure. "You're supposed to push them, not pull them."

"Oh yeah," Xena laughed, rubbing her neck. "I was just testing you to make sure you were paying attention. Onward!" She called, entering the building.

The Grand Hall was utterly deserted. Not a soul was in sight. The only sound was the beeping of Roxy's tiny device as she wandered around the room, holding it up to various objects like flower vases, paintings, etc. The beeping picked up as she neared a portrait of Gregory Schurmann himself. She grinned evilly. "Gotcha."

"Hey, Roxy? What exactly are we doing anyway? You just said we were going on a top secret mission." Xena finally questioned, seeing her partner prodding at a hanging picture. The bluette had spared her the details, only that she needed the older girl to stand guard. Given her bored silly state, she had no thoughts of objecting or investigating farther.

With a grunt, Roxy tugged the portrait off the wall and set it aside. Underneath it laid a code-locked, heavy metal door. "Well," Roxy panted, "I think Schurmann is hiding something, and that there's something fishy going down on this island. And I intend to figure out what that is. This secret door is the beginning to confirming my suspicions."

"But who's going to find us here? Everybody's outside."

"Ah, but I've seen guards lurking around in the shadows of this island. I'm willing to bet we'll run into some down there if we're not careful." Roxy held her device to the number lock system and pressed a button called _code breaker_. Different digits flashed across the screen until it finally decided on an eight-digit number. "Six-two-seven-one-three-zero-nine." She said, pushing the button down as she spoke it. The doors parted in the middle, granting them access to the hallway within.

"Wow. Where'd you get that thing? I want one!" Exclaimed Xena, earning a hush from the bluette. "Sorry," she whispered.

"It's fine. But we can't risk getting caught. Please just stay close and…don't touch anything," She answered, tip toeing down the declining hallway. She was expecting there to be a security camera somewhere, but Gregory must have been confident that not a soul would be able to find his little hideout. She began walking more confidently, her riding boots silently clopping along. Her misdreavus visualized through the wall, coming to rest on her shoulder. "See anything, Missy?" The ghost pokemon shook its head as a no, to which the trainer replied "good".

"So, what exactly does that thing do, anyway?" Xena whispered.

"Well, it does lots of things, but right now I'm using it to find hidden doors, cameras, microphones, stuff like that. I'm going to find where Mr. Schurmann keeps all of his information to see if I can get some dirt on him." She stopped abruptly in her tracks, facing Xena and starting straight in her eyes. "But you have to promise not to tell _anybody_ about this. Not a single person. If you can't handle this than you should go back now and forget this ever happened. So, what are you gonna do?

Xena stared, somewhat shocked for a moment before smirking diabolically. "You sound evil. I like it. Let's do this!" She cheered, getting slapped over the back of the head for the outburst. "Sorry."

Roxy was sure they were underground by then. They passed very few rooms before they got to the one (misdreavus checked each room before they entered) that Roxy was looking for. Luckily, they hadn't encountered any guards yet. The bluette connected her device to crack the lock once again, then turned to Xena before she entered.

"Okay, I'm going in to find out what I can as fast as I can. I need you," she placed her hands on Xena's shoulders for the air of importance, "to make sure none of the guards, or even worse, Schurmann, walks in on me while I'm in there. Keep out of sight and warn me via talkie if someone's coming. Got it?"

"Yup, nobody will get by me," Xena stated.

"Good," Roxy sighed. Xena stood there, staring at her, and she stared right back. "Well, go!" She shooed the girl. The purplenette jumped, saluted, and then took off. After she was gone, Roxy slipped into the room, first her hand with the device's machine finder, then the rest of her.

The room was a tad on the shabby side. Okay, maybe more than a tad. Nothing in it really matched and it certainly looked lived in. There was a rolling chair seated in front of a mahogany desk holding a remarkably old version of a laptop. The walls were painted a dingy gray/blue with an ugly, shag carpet. Chip bags and papers laid discarded over the floor and the desk, and it smelled like compost. It wasn't a very likable room to say the least.

Roxy clicked on a small desk lamp and went to the chair to sit. She felt like she was sucked down by quicksand it was so low, so she stuck with leaning one knee on it instead. She booted up the ancient machine, hearing a frightening clunking of the hard drive as it trembled to life. No passwords tried to stop her; it went immediately to the display window. She was surprised the dinosaur actually did anything at all. Placing her hand on the mouse pad, she clicked open the documents on his computer. There were about a hundred documents she had to scroll through, only a couple catching her eye. The first was called _The Society_, which was just a jumbled mess in Roxy's teal eyes. She assumed that it was confidential information, since it was shielded with layers upon layers of encryption to keep prying eyes out. She kept it in the back of her mind as she continued her search. The second was she was just about to open when…

"_Xena to Roxy, the target has been spotted, I repeat, the target has been spotted, over,"_ came the crackling voice of her watch woman over the walkie-talkie.

Slightly panicking, Roxy scrambled to unclip the talkie from her belt. "Xena, what target? You're supposed to warn me if somebody's coming. Xena-"

Apparently Xena had forgotten to release her hold on the talk button, as Roxy heard another raspy voice. _"Hey, you aren't supposed to be down here!" _

SMACK!

"Xena…? Xena, are you okay? What's happening?" Roxy demanded in a hushed tone. She was hurriedly attaching a flash drive she had in her backpack to the USB plug and transferring the documents and anything that looked of possible importance to it, cursing at the slow moving blue bar of progress.

There was a bit of ruffling from the other side as Xena's finger was removed from the talk button. Roxy panicked even more and pounded her fist against the desk, immediately recoiling as her knuckle hit a rotten apple core. She was so occupied that she didn't notice somebody come in until a hand clamped down on her shoulder.

"Good God, you scared me." She hissed, placing a hand over her swiftly pounding heart.

Pulling the black cap from her head, the mess of purple hair fell out. "That's General Xena Ver-BOOM to you, soldier!" She saluted, dragging the huge sunglasses covering her eyes to the end to her nose, her wicked golden orbs looking wild. "And I'm going in." With that, she strutted out the door like some kind of corporal or something.

At first, Roxy laughed. But then realizing she just left the insane girl loose in a place where they were trying to remain inconspicuous, she frowned and sighed. "Good help is really hard to find these days." She decided it was best to find the older girl before she found a way to blow up the whole building.

"Missy, search all the rooms and report to me if you find her." The obedient ghost nodded and disappeared. The girl now disregarded any form of stealth, so she sprinted down the hallways. There were actually quite a few paths breaking off the deeper in she ran. Misdreavus hadn't returned to her, not having found her partner either. She finally began her journey back to the entrance, presuming Xena had left already.

"Hey, you. Halt." A man in black shouted as he rounded a corner, spotting the girl.

'_Damn it'_ Roxy mentally cursed. She felt her arms being held together by another pair of hands and the clanging of two metals clashing together. Handcuffs. _'This is just great.'_ She struggled against the person, but it didn't help at all.

"It's all good, I've got this one." Stated a person behind Roxy.

* * *

"Good lord, Xena. You really scared those guys good. And me too!" Roxy laughed, staring at the female's handiwork. The two guards were silently withering on the floor after being zapped multiple times and being assaulted with a wooden club that she couldn't figure out how came to be in their possession. Without a single thought more about them, they had their arms locked together, walking joyfully out in the sunny rays of the afternoon. Misdreavus giggled, floating around their heads. She was the one to find the purplenette and brought her back to Roxy before the two men could hurt her.

"I know, but that was so much fun!" Xena yelled, pumping her fist in the air. "Its crazy. You're like this secret agent or something."

"Hehe, yeah. Let's go get you into your regular clothes before we're spotted again."

* * *

Gary and Paul sat in Paul's dorm room, Gary sitting with his back to the side of the lower bunk, legs sprawled in front of him, and Paul resting his palms on the frame while staring out the window.

"I can't believe we haven't found her yet," Paul abnormally, but solemnly said. He crossed his arms, searching the crystal clear sky as if the one they searched for would fall from the heavens if he looked long enough. Oddly for once, Gary didn't reply. As he looked over, the brunettes face was distant and reflective. He had been like that for a while; it made Paul annoyed that he wasn't a part of what the boy knew that he didn't. "Hey, I'm talking to you, Gare-_bear,_" He snarled. That seemed to snap him out of his trance.

"What'd you say, emo kid?" He shot back. Standing up, he jerked the door open, saying, "I'm going for a walk," and shook the entire room as he slammed the door behind him. He passed the weirdly dressed Xena and her blue-haired friend that always seemed to disappear whenever Xena skipped over to talk to her cousin and make fun of his partner. He soon got lost in his thoughts and just kept walking, going wherever his feet led him.

* * *

Roxy needed a quiet place to think. She had borrowed Kite, Xena's flygon, once again to enable her to contact Dementio. After a short, but quite productive conversation and a much smoother landing, Roxy relaxed by the overhanging cliffs in between the beach and the mountain with the dragon enjoying the gusty weather. As dusk came and the horizon was highlighted with a golden orange, she returned Kite and started back for supper, on foot.

She was close to the outskirts of the forest when she felt a menacing shiver crawl up her spine. She wasn't sure why, until a hand clamped over her mouth and dragged her behind the nearest tree. They were covered from the view of any other passers and on the bottom half of a steep hill, so nobody else saw the event going on.

"Have people really never heard of tapping one's shoulder to get one's attention these days?" Roxy ranted at the kidnapper as their hand detached from her lips. She furiously fought against the hands trying to keep her still.

"We need to talk," The person stated calmly.

"Okay, fine, talk, but why does it have to be behind a tree?"

She could feel the grin playing on their lips as they leaned in close to her ear, and said quite clearly, "I know who you really are…" They paused for a while for dramatic effect, and even though the blue-haired girl kept her brave face, her heart rate picked up just a little bit as the word she didn't want to hear spilled out.

"Alex."

Operation Save and Possible Rescue of Alex Summers: Now in effect.

* * *

Did you catch the Phineas and Ferb quote? Yes, that's right, I happen to think Phineas and Ferb rock. And there's a Gibbs slap in there too. And my bad if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Well, I am quite sorry for my short rant at the beginning. How about you tell me how your week has been? Who knows, maybe it'll make me feel better about mine. Well, leave a review and I shall commence the writing of the chapter I'm so excited for :D Tah-tah!


	21. Just Go

**Pokémon**

Hello everybody. How are you? I'm really happy right now because it is SNOWING! Yayy. And I went to see the premiere showing of Harry Potter yesterday morning at 12am. It was great. And I have decided it is time to update. And to **shineon98** I am very sorry =.=" I said before I fail at updating regularly. Thanks to who reviewed!

**Chapter # 21 – Just Go**

"_I know who you really are…" They paused for a while for dramatic effect, and even though the blue-haired girl kept her brave face, her heart rate picked up just a little bit as the word she didn't want to hear spilled out._

"_Alex."_

Roxy stiffened on the spot, turning defensive to protect her identity. "What are you talking about? Don't you know how absurd you sound?" She was unshackled so she could turn face to face with the culprit, and was not surprised of whom it was. She narrowed her teal orbs at the boy, daring him to prove her wrong. "Gary, right?"

The brunette laughed lowly. "Oh, come on, my little Lexi. I always knew when you were lying. Remember?"

**_Flashback_**

_It was a clear day like usual for the folks of Pallet Town, the sky bright but sprinkled with fluffy white shapes. A little Alex Summers was running and laughing as her best friend ran after her. They were playing tag, taking turns running after the other, and at the moment Gary was 'it'. They didn't have a care in the world. Alex was looking over her shoulder for a single moment when she ran into something, sending her toppling to the ground._

"_Alex Roxanne Summers, where have you been? It's almost time for your uncle to leave and you weren't here to spend any time with him." Her stepmother scolded, hauling the young girl onto her feet and brushing the invisible dirt from the petit, red dress she was forced into wearing. She turned to Gary and smiled. "Hello, dear."_

"_Hi, Mrs. Summers." He answered automatically. _

_A man strode over to the accumulated group. He was wearing a navy suit and dress shoes, and had slicked back, shoulder-length auburn hair and pitch black eyes. A small smile appeared on his face as he approached the young girl. "It's fine, Melinda. Hello there, Alex." He greeted, pulling her into an awkward, uncomfortable hug. Ryan wasn't far behind the man, getting gathered in the embrace as well._

"_Oh. Hello, Uncle," Alex said as she moved back beside Gary, giving the man a small smile. She fidgeted with the necklace around her neck. "Where's Aunt Suzie?" _

_"You're Aunt couldn't make it down today. She said maybe next time, alright?" Her uncle explained._

_"Oh, okay." Alex clasped her hands behind her back as she rocked back and forth on her heels, feeling the jade leaves tickle the undersides of her feet._

_"But I'll tell you what, I'm pretty sure there's somebody in the back yard that wants to see you."_

_"Oh boy!" Ryan immediately exclaimed, taking off like a bullet. _

_Alex smiled again. "Thank you, Uncle." She took her best friend's wrist and dragged him along with her. She sighed when they were a ways away._

_Gary frowned at the back of the girl's head. "Why don't you like your uncle?" _

_"What makes you say that I don't like him?" She asked, stopping along the edge of her house and sliding down the panels to the ground, drawing her legs to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. Gary mimicked her, except stretched his legs out as far as he could, which wasn't far. They could hear the cheerful cries of Ryan and multiple pokemon playing just around the corner as they sat._

_Gary looked at her face, though she was staring straight ahead, her bottom lip in the tiniest of pouts. "Because I can always tell when you're lying. I don't know how they don't notice, I mean, it's so obvious."_

"_Is not!" She countered, punching him on the arm. He pretended to be hurt and she giggled. "Oh yeah, well how can you tell?"_

"_When you don't like somebody or you're trying to hide something, you give them a really fake smile. It's not at all like your _real_ smile. And you start playing with that." He pointed to the piece of jewelry clasped around her neck. "Plus when somebody asks you about it, you answer with a question, which you don't usually do. Face it, Lexi. I'll always be able to tell when you're not telling the truth. I'd be able to spot you from a mile away. I _am_ your best friend, after all."_

**_End Flashback_**

Roxy shook her head into action, but it was like a machine that sputtered and stalled. "W-well then," she stuttered. "Let's say, hypothetically, I am this Alex you speak of. Why are you looking for me…her?"

"Of course you are my Lexi. Why else would you have been hiding from me this whole week when I'm the only one that could uncover your secret? Plus," he started, pulling the chain of Roxy's necklace from the hidden confines of her shirt. "You never took off this locket I gave you. You reached for it when we were having our battle. And seriously, you used your middle name as your alias? Just give it up." Gary finished confidently. "I want to know why you disappeared this time. Are you in trouble?"

With a sigh, the girl nodded. "Alright, but not here. Listen, this island is not what you think it is. We'll get off eventually, and when we do, it would really help to have you back in Pallet. I'll get Ryan to fill you in on everything. You can't tell _anybody_, okay? This all has to do with the _Evil Time_. Do you understand what I mean?"

Gary consented to her conditions, only giving half a mind about Paul. And when she gave him one of her true, radiant smiles, he hugged her tightly around the middle, whispering, "I'm glad your okay, Lex."

It took her a moment out of shock to respond, but she put her arms loosely around his shoulders and answered, "Me too."

* * *

The sun hadn't even peeked out over the mountains. The atmosphere was still dim and crisp, like autumn. It was very, very early, far earlier than many people were up, but for once absolutely everybody was awake (some more than others) and all in the same place. The group had pulled their first all-nighter at the island, and now looked like a gathering of zombies. They were in the center of the gorgeous maze of flowers where there was an unimaginably large, white stadium hovering over. It was down two the two final coordinators in the moonlight contest, which was quite beautiful since it was a full moon. They had started out as tag teams, but the winning tag team partners were now up against each other for the win. It was Xena vs. Roxy.

Xena had let her long hair naturally down, clipping a few front pieces back with golden, flowery clips. A dark purple, strapless dress hugged her body, flowing down just above her knees and hemmed with reflective gold. A thick gold ribbon encircled around her waist and tied in a brilliant bow in the back, along with a short, shimmering scarf snugly coiling around her neck, the ends hanging in down her chest. Her gloves were replaced with elegant, elbow length, gold-laced ones that perfectly matched her dress. She was now about three inches taller with a pair of sling-back heels, of course in a shiny, reflective yellow. Everything seemed to make her honey-colored eyes pop and her self-confidence glow off every pore. She was only still wide-awake because of the fuel of her competitive need to win. Her two chosen contest pokemon were a mid-sized, lavender, psychic cat called Xanthe, the espeon, and little Kaze, the riolu.

Roxy, or Shadow, or Alex, was having some somewhat of a self-conflict crisis, experiencing minor sleep exhaustion and caffeine/sugar withdrawal, but still was managing to put on a good show. She was also fit in a strapless dress in a light blue shade that had an inch of white banded around the top, a thick white bow to the right on the front, and some white fishnet flowing below her knee from underneath, making the skirt flare out. Her silvery blue locks were pulled up in a high, loose ponytail held with a silver bow with her bangs pinned out of the way, leaving a long strand on either side to frame her face with braids. Her heels were a low pitch, also silver and sandal like with a band around the ankle. She fiddled with the yin and yang sign locket around her neck. Her pokemon were misdreavus and rapidash.

"Xanthe, use giga impact!" called out Xena. Her feline pounced back at first to give herself more space, then took off and gradually gained speed and a lavender and orange power enclosed her.

"Rapidash, take it on with flare blitz, max fire power. Misdreavus, shadow ball on riolu!" The fiery horse completely combusted and sprinted at a mind racing speed in only a few steps, becoming an orange and red galloping mass. They met in the middle and detonated a devastating explosion, sending smoke everywhere. The ghost pokemon was unaffected by the darkened background, and proceeded through the gray cloud and used it was cover to shoot three cackling, violet orbs. Rapidash and espeon finally appeared from the clearing fumes. Espeon's attack didn't hit as forcefully as rapidash's, but it didn't appear to take any more damage than the other either, making Roxy conclude that its endurance and stamina were extremely high, perfect for a contest battle.

None of the shadow balls got a chance to hit the childish pokemon. It turned its palms out and pushed its aura out to make them dissolve, sparkling and crackling around its cute little face. "Sweet, Kaze! Now, underground." The small, dog-like creature jumped up and dove out of sight.

"Okay then, let's do a combination of megahorn and power gem." Misdreavus' ruby pendent shone brightly, calling forth white glowing, piercing, rock-type shards while the horn on rapidash's head extended as it dashed in with the other attack surrounding it.

"Bring it to a halt, espeon. Use phychic." The almond eyes of the feline lit up with focused power, staring down the incoming raid. Its partner flew up from the ground with excellent timing, ramming into the fire pokemon. It proceeded by flipping up from the horse's nose to flip back and land perfectly and gently on espeon's back. "Now, shadow ball and aura sphere, and keep them up!" cheered the purplenette. Both pokemon charged different colored orbs, one a radiant azure that seemed nearly transparent, and the other an electrifying amethyst with a pure center. The flurry of blue and purple clashed together, raining upon their opponents, so delicate, yet powerful, that they broke like bubbles and fizzled like sparklers. The chain of them commenced a sort of reaction with the rest of them, as it caused a final _BOOM_ as the energy dispersed and sparked a glittering, zapping and snapping of electricity that showered into the audience like tiny stars.

"And with that dazzling finale, our time is up. Congratulations Xena, Espeon and Riolu, this year's winners of the moonlight contest ribbon!" Nurse Joy finished over the applauding crowd.

Roxy sent a small smile her friend's way before slowly moving to her pokemon, who were magnificently relatively unharmed, since the last attacks were more for appeal than power, which was what really counted in a contest battle. She stroked the fiery steed's nose and offered a perch on her shoulder for the ghost. She praised them, also apologizing for being so disoriented throughout the whole day. A yawn escaped her lips as she guided herself off-stage, for even if she lacked the proper amount of sleep she should be getting, she received none what-so-ever that evening. It was starting to slow her down, making her feel numb.

Xena was presented with a sterling silver, moon-looking crest, cushioned by a silky, midnight bow. Absolutely beaming, she jumped around with her fist in the air, flaunting her newest ribbon addition and not caring how many people saw her crazy little happy dance. She embraced her equally enthused pokemon. Eventually, she fell to the ground, exhausted. "Time for bed now," she sighed sleepily, completely content with the idea of making the middle on the levitating arena her bed. Her lids drooped like twenty-pound weights.

"Come on," Roxy laughed, running back to the girl and pulling her up.

* * *

"Ah, it feels good to be in pajamas and finally get some beauty sleep," Holly sighed appreciatively as she climbed under the plush covers of her bottom bunk. Unfortunately, Xena didn't make it that far. She was unconscious, laying diagonally on the bottom bunk, Roxy's bunk, stomach down and clothes still on.

The digital clock on the girl's desk blared 4 o'clock am. Who would want to be awake at that godly hour? Absolutely no one, that's who.

"Attention everybody," the deep voice of Gregory Schurmann droned over those downright malevolent speakers. "This is your announcement that the main event of the week, the Grand Race, will be commencing in half an hour. Everybody is required to be at the rose garden in 15 minutes, I repeat, 15 minutes. Anybody not there for registration will automatically be disqualified. Don't be late." The grin was almost audible in his voice. The microphone clicked off, ringing through the hushed night.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Xena's mumbled voice chimed over the utter silence.

"I thought you were sleeping," Roxy groaned back.

"Mmm, I just didn't want to walk all the way back."

"Watch your language, Xena," Holly scolded.

"Shut up," Nicky pleaded.

None of the four females had made an attempt to move a single muscle. They lay on the soft mattresses, eyes closed peacefully. In fact, nothing moved within the entire building. Everything was just so serene. A minute passed, then another…and another. Suddenly, as if a switch flicked on, everything went into chaos.

"That God damn bastard planned this," growled the puplenette as she sat straight up.

Everybody jumped up at once and raced around to get dressed. Clothes went soaring this way and that in complete disarray. Hopping on one foot to replace and tie a shoe; running across the room with nothing but undergarments. It was insane.

"Three minutes!" Screaming a girl as she ran down the hallway. With bags slinging over shoulders and slipping around waists, the four roommates zoomed out the door in like a herd of milktank, along with the rest of the female population in a raging stampede.

A few boys chuckled to each other as the flood of girls arrived, saying, "Figures the girls would be the last ones here." He stifled a yawn as he desperately tried to hang on to consciousness.

"Oh yeah? Better watch your back there, pal," Whispered Xena in a dangerously low tone, sneaking up behind him. He jumped a foot in the air and high-tailed it out of there with a disturbed face.

"Okay, this is an anything goes race. Each trainer must have _one_ pokemon out at all times. You must have had each pokemon out with you at least once at some point before reaching the finish line. We'll be watching to make sure you comply. In addition, you must check in at every single point placed on the island. They are machines to swipe your card, so you better not have lost it. Failing to do so, and you will not complete the requirements of the race. I warn you, you have to go beyond the borders of the entrance signs of the area to find them. The first trainer to reach the finish line, right here, will be crowned Queen or King of the island. And GO!"

"What happened to get ready and get set?" One kid shouted.

Gregory glared. "Just go."

So that's what they did. All headed south, the group released a single pokemon and charged, pushing and shoving their way closer to the lead. Roxy noted that with the direction they were going, their first obstacle would be the volcano. Rapidash would have probably been the best choice, but she needed the steed for later. She stuck with her good pal misdreavus. She caught a glimpse of her partner with her mighty houndoom as they sped along.

The bluette was right. A wave of heat impacted each person as they reached the borders of the rumbling mount. No machine in sight, they started climbing up a winding trail. It was quite a challenge for most. Every five or so minutes, a terrifying quake shook throughout the entire area, and the odd conflagrant boulder crashed down from the summit. The temperature drastically increased to a boiling temperature, and was unbearable by the time the "machine" came into sight. As soon as a trainer swiped their card, they fled in the blink of an eye to find a more reasonable climate.

Roxy asked misdreavus to teleport them back to the base of the bubbling lava mound, and it obediently did so. She recalled the phantom back to its pokeball, and brought out the blue dinosaur, nidoqueen. They proceeded northeast along the coastline. It was a little piece downhill on a natural made dirt road until they met up with a sign that read _Sand-pit Desert: Southern Entrance_. So letting the dinosaur reside in its ball, she called upon a more suitable one, sandslash. There was also a box of goggles to the left of the sign, so she strapped on the gear and sprinted in.

Xena was just in front of her, her own personal pair of purple goggles protecting her eyes as her flying, desert loving dragon buzzed through the sandstorm with ease. Seeing more than a few feet ahead was just unreasonable, so she soon buzzed out of sight.

The armadillo creature was leading the girl out of the way of waiting, praying trapinch traps and avoided the large jaws of hippopotas. Judging by the shrill scream behind her, the person taking up her rear wasn't so fortunate. Making quite good time, Roxy fell upon the next machine, which was protected from the raging storm by being dug in a deep pit. Sandslash got them through safely, though, and Roxy deposited the goggles in the box on the other side as she sputtered out grains of sand stuck to her lips.

Leafeon was the next called on, swiftly rushing through the spongy sand of the humid beach. The now high rays of sun beat down heavily on the two, as they padded over the sturdy patch of sand near the lapping waves. Within no time at all, they were on the other side. Dark came up on her right, running alongside an absol, as she sprinted onto rocky terrain. It was then Roxy summoned her fiery horse.

"Good luck!" She shouted happily to him, while thinking_ 'Time for my plan to commence'._ They began drifting away from the course, hooves clopping steadily against the solid ground. The cluster of caves came up fast. Roxy took the reins and expertly navigated to a specific one she had her eyes narrowed in on, and suddenly they were left in the glow of the horse's fiery features and were on a steep incline. As the trail curved, she could see the stalagmites and stalactites that had formed from the frigid weather outside, and knew they were headed straight for their destination, probably in half the original time. Pure white light met them up ahead, and she steered her partner into a sharp right.

Now they were facing head first in a gusty blizzard, which broke up slightly as their speed accelerated gradually. The beating of helicopter wings sounded in the sky, and she heard Nurse Joy's peppy voice announce, "Roxy Monroe and rapidash have taken a great lead, followed by Gary Oak and blastoise, Nicky Langille and kingdra, and Xena and glaceon. Clearly it's still anyone's game. This has been an update up on Frostbite Mountain."

Roxy was pretty sure she had frozen her face to the point it tinted the color of her hair as she reached the mountain's summit at last. She quickly dragged the card through with a jittering hand, and returned her steed to warmth. She tossed the giant penguin's pokeball up and got on its back as it went on its stomach. Like a toboggan, Roxy and empoleon slid down the mountain faster than a bolt of lightning. The bluette screamed as her hair whipped around her. They flew off an edge, landing in a pile of cold slush to have it spray in her face. As the ground flew up at them, the penguin jumped and splashed into the rushing river.

The whole race was going by in a blur. It was all happening so fast. Everybody still in the race was running solely on pure adrenalin coursing through his or her veins. Others had already crashed from exaustion or something of the sorts and were probably taking a nap under the shelter of the berry trees. In reality they had been running for a couple of hours when it felt like a few minutes. But as Roxy's face hit the polar water, everything came rushing to her, jolting her awake. She held on tightly to the pokemon's neck with one arm as she put a breathing device in her mouth so she wouldn't be required to surface for oxygen. _'I never thought about it this way, but what if the only thing Gregory is hiding from is the S.S. From people like me! I suppose it's sort of late to be having ideas like this now.'_

The water pokemon cut through the body of water skillfully, diving deeper gradually. It was keeping its eyes peeled for something in the depths, as was its rider. Finally a shadow came visible, sitting on the bottom like a rock. The penguin made a swoop to it.

The rock figure was actually a submarine, or more precisely a jet that had converted to a submarine. It was completely undetectable under all of the water pressing down on it. As the pokemon and trainer swam up, a metal door opened for them, allowing them access. It closed immediately as they entered, and they broke surface inside a small room, the walls shining aqua from the water's reflection.

Roxy dragged her body into the deck, with her soaked clothing dragging her down. She spit out the oxygen mask, wrung out her long hair and returned the pokemon to its pokeball. Turning around, she saw Dimentio open the door of the chamber, greeting her with a vengeful smirk.

"How wonderful to see you, Shadow." His smirk grew as she glared daggers at him. Her recent thoughts looking more promising to be true the more she thought about it. "Now dear, what on earth is that look for? Come, we have preparations to make. Firstly, I would like that flash drive from Mr. Schurmann's computer. And then we will have to get you out of those clothes before you catch a cold. Maids!"

With a long hesitation, the flash drive slipped from her fingers. The two girls appeared in the hallway, dragging the bluette away. Dimentio held the small object that contained the information that he needed in the palm of his gloved hand. He was quite satisfied with himself as he strutted into his room and plugged it into his own system, forwarding it to headquarters at the same time. They responded with a response at once.

_To:_ _Dimentio_

_From: Boss_

_Take them out_.

"My pleasure," Dimentio said to the screen.

**Up on the surface**

**About two hours later**

Xena was shaking with fury, shouting profanities and pounding on the walls of the barrier that contained her. After a while, she would pace its perimeter, like a caged tiger waiting for revenge. She was alone. Her pokemon were gone, and everybody else was outside her bubble.

Trainers were in panicking frenzy. They were all packed into a crammed, barred cage like a can of sardines. They couldn't move hardly an inch any way without getting zapped by a bolt of electricity, which was coursing though the bars. They couldn't even reach for their own pokemon for assistants. All wanted to help, but none had the ability to. The only thing they could do was holler for the manically laughing man and sneering girls to let them all go, and that they'd never get away with what they were doing.

The man stopped his boastful chortling to swagger up to the bars with a haughty attitude. "I've been getting away with this for nearly fifteen years, and who's going to stop me this time? You? No, you're stuck in a jail cell. Officer Jenny? No, she's not here. And whom does that leave? Oh, that's right, _nobody_!" He burst out with a _Muahaha_. "And I'll get away with it every time. You want to know why? Because anybody you tell won't believe that somebody of _my_ status would do something like _this_. They might even put you in an insane asylum. Whatever, it's not my problem anymore!" His cackling laughter sounded again as he began walking to where his aircraft was hiding, leaving all his turmoil behind.

* * *

**Hahahaha cliffhanger XP I feel evil. Well review, message me, whatever. I think I'm going to go have a nap. Until then, Ciao from Piano-girl.**


	22. The Button

**Pokémon**

Hello everybody. I'm here with another update. I would have done it earlier but I had to rewrite this entire chapter. Don't ask. It's just been a bad week and I'm sorry if this has some errors in it and it's a bit shorter than usual. Take what you can get. Anyway, enjoy. And a word for my reviewers:

**KitsPokePeople - **Thank you very much :D

**Luxord's Xigbar - **Oh no, not Sebation! I don't wanna die young! Plus I don't see how that will help the update any. XP Nice wording by the way.

**shineon98 - **I hope that's a good thing...?

**Chapter # 22 - The Button**

_His cackling laughter sounded again as he began walking to where his aircraft was hiding, leaving all his turmoil behind._

**About one hour prior Soul Salvation Submarine**

Shadow sat in a room. It was the same room used to create the alias "Roxy". Her hair was still the same aqua blue as Roxy's, but she had removed her contacts and bright clothes. She could stare at her reflection and see her nearly black orbs staring back. She was dressed only in a fluffy pink robe that just barely brushed her knees. The maids had blow dried her drenched locks and tied it back in a neat braid with her bangs pinned back with the rest of it. Her eyes were highlighted with even more black, lips painted red, and on the plus side she managed to get a fair tan while on the island. Her cheek was pressed into her knuckle as she dawdled the time away from the luxury of the plush chair. She didn't know how long she loitered there, and she didn't really care.

"_Countdown: 30 minutes until departure time,"_ Rang the robotic voice over the intercom.

Heaving a sigh, Shadow stood and walked out of the room. She wandered along until she heard the voice of the slithering snake himself. He heard her enter the main area, and turned with a cavalier atmosphere clinging to him. He stood as took his time walking over to her, hands behind his back. "Shadow, you've completed your first task within the Soul Salvation flawlessly. It is my honor to present you with your own uniform. Congratulations, you made it in." He smirked.

Shadow took the bundle of black from his hands, running a finger over the black rhinestone letters _SS_ of the top of it. "Thanks," she said, clutching it over her chest and crossing her arms. "What's happening now?"

"All in good time. Now, why don't you go try the uniform on? Then I will run through the plan with you.

"_Countdown: 15 minutes until departure time."_

Dimentio gazed up from the detailed diagram, his eyes piercing into Shadow's. "Do you understand?"

'_No.' _"Yes," She responded.

Looking almost amused, as if knowing her thoughts, Dimentio nodded. "I'm sure you will be fine. You're one of us now. Just do what you feel you're supposed to at the moment and this will go smooth."

'_Easy for you to say.'_ "I know it will." _'Why are they doing this?'_ Shadow was befuddled. Nothing at the moment was making sense. Why did she come to the SS in the first place? Why had she continued Dimentio's plan?

"_10 minutes until departure."_

"And after this is through, you can go back to whatever you did before you went on this mission, and I will contact you when we need to. And you're pokemon will be returned to you as well."

'_Went on the mission? More like was forced to.'_ "Can I keep this team as well?" They were letting her free again? That must mean she gained their trust. Or they had a way to watch her. But the point was that she could forget about this whole mess for a short period of time.

"_5 minutes until departure time."_

"If that is what you wish," he responded with a small bow. "You will be required to use them for each mission I give you as the house leader. I have already cleared it with our boss that you will work at the House of Chaos."

'_I wonder how bad the rest of them are.'_ "I can't wait." _'It will be nice to actually be myself for a while after these two weeks.'_ Say want she meant, wear what she wanted, and talk to people she wanted to, she never thought such things could sound so appealing. _'Wait, what are we doing to the island?'_

"_One minute until departure time."_

"Positions, everyone," barked Dimentio. He made no movement to get up, but the maids fled the area and a motor started buzzing. The turbines could be heard, spinning through the underwater depths. All at once, it came to life and jolted ahead and up so fast that nobody in the area would see anything but a blur of black. As they shot out from the surface, the rockets kicked in and wings extended so they soared up. Dimentio stood, motioning for Shadow to walk beside him.

It took a mere minutes before they were hovering by the clouds. Shadow's face was furrowed in a deep frown. Her black uniform was zippered up and covering almost every inch of her from head to toe. It consisted of a plain black tee covered by a dark, fit jacket, zippered and buckled up the front with a high neck that obscured just under her nose down and stopped right under her behind. Slim cut pants hugged her legs and slipped beneath the knee-highs. Strong gloves were slipped onto her hands and a big cloak with a hood hung off her shoulders, billowing like smoke when she walked. The SS stood out in teal letters on the back.

Shadow and Dimentio went over to the latch and opened it. "Show time," Dimentio whispered as they saw, even at that great distance, a gathering outside of the grand hall. Shadow breathed deeply as the man beside her pulled out a pokeball and called out the pokemon. It was a noctowl; a brown colored owl almost Roxy's size.

Dimentio swung his leg over the bird after helping the girl on, and told the creature to go. It shot out of the aircraft with the two on its back. They skimmed the fluffy, white clouds and swooped down, watching everything play out on the island. Shadow's grip loosened around Dimentio's middle as she strained to see what was happening.

The smooth voice of Dimentio caught the girl's attention. "Raise your hood, please, and take this. It's time, noctowl, for wing attack." The pokemon hooted before going into an intense dive, spreading its glowing wings wide.

* * *

"Congratulations, Xena Verboom! You are this year's Queen of the island. Please step forward to receive your fabulous prize," announced Gregory Schurmann, holding a golden trophy in his hands with a jovial grin on his face.

The purplette happily skipped onto the stage while the other participants clapped, most halfheartedly. "Thank you, thank you!" She bowed to the crowd, and turned to accept the cup. Kissing it, she held it high in the air for all to see. She posed center stage for her adoring fans, waving as though thousands were watching her.

"No, thank _you_," Gregory snickered as he pulled a small contraption from the inside of his jacket and pressed it. Everything went disastrous from that point on.

Trainers shrieked as thick wires shot out of the ground and surrounded them, hissing with electricity. "Where did these come from?" "Hey, what's going on?" "Let us out!" They shouted. They tried to move for their pokeballs, but couldn't do so because they were so crowded.

Xena felt the weight of her backpack removed from her shoulders as one of the Nurse Joy's ran past. "Hey!" She started to chase after the pink haired lady, but the trophy she was carrying suddenly exploded. Now, a pink dome was blocking her way. It was hard like glass as she pounded her fists against the walls. She cursed at the bubble, yelling for the lady to bring her pokemon back.

"Not going to happen." The Nurse teased, pulling the skin down away from her eye and sticking out her tongue before strutting away. All three Joys flanked around Gregory Schurmann as he cackled with laughter.

One kid near the front of the cage stuttered out, "You're not going to get away with this! We'll get out of here at some point!"

The man stopped his sniggering to step up to the bars haughtily. "I've been getting away with this for nearly fifteen years, and who's going to stop me this time? You? No, you're stuck in a jail cell. Officer Jenny? No, she's not here. And whom does that leave? Oh, that's right, _nobody_!" He burst out with a _Mwahaha_. "And I'll get away with it every time. You want to know why? Because anybody you tell won't believe that somebody of _my_ status would do something like _this_. They might even put you in a crazy house. Whatever! It's not my problem anymore!" His cackling laughter sounded again as he began walking to where his aircraft was hiding, leaving all his turmoil behind.

"Not if we stop you!" Stated a voice from the air. The ground in front of the gang shot up with dust as it was struck. A cloaked figure landed in front of them, another on the bubble containing the purplenette. The brown owl stood by the first, squawking at the four trying to make their get away.

The figure on the bubble, Shadow, tossed the pokeball Dimentio had handed her before they touched down. A purple snake, resembling a cobra with its hood, and a chest decorated with an angry face appeared from the light. The girl called, "Arbok, smash the bubble with your fangs." The snake slithered down the side of the pink dome and sunk its pointed teeth into it, making it crack all the way up to the top, where the girl penetrated it with the heel of her boot, thus causing it to shatter into smithereens. The cloaked female went down with the rubble and landed in a crouch by the purplenette.

Xena had her eyes closed and was ducked down to avoid the raining glass-like substance. When they fluttered open to see a dark, looming figure over her, she lashed out screaming, "You'll never take me alive!" She kicked out her feet wildly, intending to keep back the person who had jumped back with alarm.

"Xena!" She hissed. "It's me, Roxy, your partner. Calm down!"

The trashing girl never even hesitated with her flailing. "You're just saying that so I'll stop. Well it's not working on me!"

"Look at me!" Shouted the figure as she tugged the hood until her hair was showing. "My name isn't really Roxy Monroe. I'm Alex, the one your cousin is looking for. You _can't_ tell him, though, please. Listen, I'm really sorry about this, but you have to trust me so we can get your pokemon back," Roxy/Alex/Shadow convinced the girl at last, as she had stopped and now looked in shock. Shadow pulled the hood back over her face and ran after the fleeing Nurse that was running with Xena's bag. She noticed Dimentio was occupied with a nasty typhlosion – a rather bearish pokemon with dark teal fur covering its back, cream on its stomach, face and inner of its bulky legs and arms, and a collar of flames - that was called out by Gregory as she swerved past.

"She really _is_ a secret agent," whispered a dumbfounded Xena. She slowly turned to where her savior had taken off and noticed a very bad thing. Her face turned red as she sprung up and charged ahead. "Nobody messes with my friends!" She screamed as she tackled Gregory Schurmann to the ground, knocking the gun, which was aimed directly at "Secret Agent" Roxy, from his hands in the progress.

Roxy had turned just in time to see the rescue, and smiled thankfully as she sprinted faster to catch up with the Nurse. She reached her and pulled on her hair, which was the closest thing she could reach, but the thing was, it fell into her hands. Both females stopped in astonishment. Roxy glanced from the wig to the girl in front of her and back again.

"Surprised?" The woman smirked, leafy green hair curling down her shoulders. She smirked at the smaller character evilly.

"Surprisingly no. It's been a strange week," Shadow pondered, thinking back to her wacky and wild adventures with Xena and her roommates. She stood back, pulling down her hood and stared out into space, crossing her arms.

"Tell me about it!" The woman exclaimed, taking up the same stance as her. From the pair's far right shouted another female voice of another fake Nurse Joy. It yelled, "Jade, take the remote before this lunatic takes it. Ow! She bit me!"

Shadow turned in a daze to see her crazed purplenette friend attached to another purplenette's back, a pink wig in one hand with the other flailing toward the woman's hand which held a remote. The woman who was unwillingly giving the girl a piggyback ride was shaking and jerking and turning in circles, trying to throw the weight on her back off. The object in her hand was launched into the air, heading in the cloaked person and the green haired person.

Feeling a sudden jolt of what she was previously doing, Shadow grabbed a strap of Xena's backpack and tugged. The woman on the other side kept her grip and tugged back. Neither of their attentions on the flying remote, it ran through its course and slammed into the woman's noggin. With a slight sway, the woman passed out right at Shadow's feet, releasing the bag. She smiled, "Thank you, lady!"

"Shut up you little brat. I wasn't helping you. Get. Off. Me! HA!" The woman shouted triumphantly finally managing to flip Xena into the ground. As her head shot up, her long hair flipping back its normal and straight as a pin state. Once her brain stopped spinning round, she pointed an reproachful finger at the head of teal hair, growling, "You."

Shadow's eyes shot from the remote on a silver key chain with a big, inviting red button, which had bounced oh-so-conveniently about half the distance between the females.

"Let us out already!" Demanded a sharp-mouthed Nicky from the cramped cage.

Slinging an arm through the bag straps to keep it safe, Shadow shot for the small button, noticing the woman do the same. Her cape billowed behind her, making her feel rather heroic or villainous; she wasn't sure which. She skidded to the ground to grab it, the purplenette tripping over her and causing a wrestling match of trying to gain possession of the remote.

"Ouchie. What a meanie," Xena whined, pulling herself up. Her golden orbs turned fiery with revenge. "Hey, let those people go fatso!" she screamed, choosing the island-owner as her new target. She ran and leapt onto his back, tugging his hair with her hand while the other curled around his neck.

The slightly cloudy, bright day turned suddenly as dark billowing clouds rolled in. They brought with them a deep rumbling noise that rumbled across the island. Lightning streaked across the sky, glowing yellow all around the battle zone. High winds whistled through the trees and tossed flower petals to dance through the air, which was turning damp as water pellets began to plunge down to cool down the atmosphere.

"Arg, my hair!" Shrieked the purplenette woman, getting pinned to the ground by Shadow. "It's going to be ruined."

"I just finished drying too," Shadow sighed sadly, pulling her hood back over her head for extra protection.

The woman took the advantage to push the girl off and grab the remote. "Ha-ha ha ha-ha," she sang, flaunting the palm-sized mechanism. "Try to get it now!" she taunted, throwing her arm back and letting it soar once again. Not being very heavy, it got caught on the wind and flew somewhere in the depths of the Symme-tree Forest.

Gregory Schurmann struggled with the girl on his back, seeing as soon as he threw her off she was too fast for him and nearly knocked him over by a surprise attack. He spun towards the two. "Damn it, Amethyst, you idiot. The keys were on that!"

"What? Why would you put the keys with the button? That's just stupid!"

"Because I didn't think anybody would be dim-witted enough to chuck it off into the middle of nowhere. Honestly, this is why you were supposed to stay with Jade. Now go find that remote!"

"Stop bossing me around, you know I hate that!" Amethyst screamed over the wind, jogged in the way she had tossed the device.

"Not again. I've had enough running today," cried Shadow, gloomily heading off with her body sagging unhappily.

Xena, however, stopped all movement as soon as she felt the vibrations pulsate through her body. The thunder drowned her hearing and she dropped to the ground, eyes wide. She curled into the fetal position and began to rock soothingly back and forth, clapping her gloved hands to her ears. She tried to omit the rumbles and cracks of thunder as it roared.

Dimentio took Xena's place of going against Gregory while his winged noctowl continued to take on the blazing typhlosion. "Give it up. I'm taking you out," he growled. He launched his fist towards the man's face and missed. "Noctowl, use arial ace."

"Finish it with blast burn," Gregory countered.

"Ahahahaha!" Laughed Shadow manically, bursting through the sting of trees and pouncing on a certain remote. "Huh?" She looked around questioningly. "Is it just me or am I getting shorter?"

"You are short." Amethyst stuck her tongue out slipping the device into her own manicured hands. She then tried to run away, but didn't move an inch. "Hey, I can't move!" she struggled, sinking more.

"It's sinking sand!" Shadow gasped. She whipped around, filled with panic, trying to find a rope or branch or something to pull herself out. She smiled as a familiar purple snake slithered towards them "Arbok! Come on, pull me out and use that tree as an anchor."

"Not without me, you don't." Amethyst clung around Shadow's middle and got dragged out with the girl. She had tears in her eyes. "Now my outfit is completely ruined. And it's all your fault," she cried, pointing at Shadow.

"Ha-ha, sucker! I got the button!" She sang, swiping the remote and skipping away, leaving the weeping girl to stumble haphazardly after. "Come on, arbok. Let's press it! But what if it blows up the whole island? But it looks so nice and push-able, how can I just ignore it? Hm, what to do?" Shadow felt unexplainably exhausted at that time and didn't really have the most rational thoughts. With a final shrug and a dramatic slow-motion finger motion, she was about to press the big red button, her finger touching its smooth surface, when she was stalled by an ear-piercing scream.

The button hit the ground, being pushed when it fell.

"NO!"

* * *

**Ahahaha another cliffhanger! Well I feel really evil now. Well I'm going to bed now so goodnight to everyone. Feel very welcome to leave a review or message me. **


	23. Eruption

**Pokémon**

Hey there everybody. I meant to update this all week but I had no time whatsoever so here I am right now. Thanks to all that reviewed/favorited. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who likes big, pushable buttons XP Anyway, here is the chapter so enjoy.

**Chapter # 23 – Eruption**

_Alex sighed, watching her little stepbrother from the kitchen window. The sky was turning a dingy gray but he didn't seem to take notice. His back was to her, sitting silent and still like a statue in on the side of the road, watching the patj down to where it disappeared within the underbrush. She set down her stirring spoon and turned the soup on the stove down to low so it wouldn't burn in her absence and went out the door._

_Ryan was so absorbed in his thoughts, he didn't hear his sister walk up and sit next to him. He only became aware of her arrival when she put an arm awkwardly around his shoulder, somewhat hugging him from the side. "They'll be here soon. I know they will." His voice came out weak, breaking like an out of tune violin._

"_Ry, I know you want to believe that," Alex breathed, closing her eyes, "But think about it. They're-"_

"_Don't," he cut her off before she said the word. "We don't know that."_

"_Look, the police are looking for clues – that's what Delia and Professor Oak said when they were talking - but there isn't a single sign of them. Come on inside. Supper's ready."_

"_No, we have to wait for Mom and Dad!" Ryan cried, a few stray tears trickling down his rosy, cold cheeks._

"_Look Ryan, listen to me. I'm your big sister and I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, but you've been doing this all week. It needs to stop now; you have to accept it. You're being childish."_

"_How can you say that? Don't you care that they're gone?" Ryan threw her arm off of his shoulder, standing. He looked so vulnerable. "You think that 'cause you're older you know everything, but I'll show you it's not true. Just leave me alone. I'm going to go find them right now!" He shot out of the girl's reach and darted blindly into the forest. _

_Alex stalled after a few steps toward him, thinking rationally it would be impossible to catch up her faster brother and recklessly dangerous to go in the forest. So she ran in the other direction._

"_Professor! Professor! Open the door. Quick!" Alex shouted, pounding on the door with urgency. She almost beat her fist against his stomach when he finally did open it. _

_He looked at her frantically, a chopstick sticking from his mouth. He pulled it out before trying to ask her calmly what was wrong. When the girl looked up at him in tears, it was hard to remain cool._

"_Ry-Ryan. He ran into the f-forest! He-he hates me!" She screamed, through hysterical breaths that were trying to control themselves._

"_Now, now, I'm sure that's not true. How about you go to Delia's and I'll get a search party out looking for him? We'll have him back in no time."_

"_Okay," Alex agreed softly, nodding and taking off to her friend's house. _

_She reached the two-story house with the light on and grabbed the lower edge of a railing after a jump and swung herself up. She knocked on the window, and couldn't even laugh when the raven-haired boy fell off his bed with a start with the mood she was in. _

_Ash's head peaked over the top of his bed, and with a grin slid across the furniture and pulled the brunette girl in. She muttered a thanks and situated herself in a sitting position on his bed with his pillow squished with her arms tightly as he went it sit in front of her. "What's up?" he asked._

"_Ryan and I had a fight…" Alex trailed off staring at her feet. _

"_Oh, what happened?" Ash kept looking at her even when she gave him a meaningful glance. He kept her gaze, no longer smiling but looking concerned._

_Alex shook her head incredulously. "Just, something stupid." Without her consent, salty streams surged from the corners of her eyes and stained the blue pillow with the pokeball on it._

_Ash reared back in panic, wondering what to do. "Oh, I didn't mean to make you cry. Come on, I'm sorry." He stuttered like he was afraid of the droplets._

"_I thought I heard voices up here. Alex, honey- oh my." Delia popped through the door, seeing the daughter-she-never-had with an upset expression and her clueless son not helping matters. "Come on, Alex, let's go make some hot chocolate and talk. Ash, you can watch TV for an hour but then it's time for bed."_

_Ash was about to protest, but seeing the gloomy girl free his pillow and shuffle her way to his mom, he shut him mouth and nodded._

_Alex stared into the steaming cup of sweet, brown liquid with fluffy white mini-marshmallows floating on top. She threw a longing glance at the door; a worried look out the inky, starless sky, then curtained her small face with her long hair. Delia waited soundlessly for the girl to speak when she was ready. "Ryan's being childish," she muttered, only loud enough that Delia had to strain her ears to hear. "He keeps waiting out there, like that's going to bring them back."_

"_Well, he is a child; you both are. It's only natural to miss them. They were your parents."_

"_Well, one of them was." Delia didn't hear that, or pretended not to. "He said I don't care that they're gone. He says it every night." The tears cascaded down harder, and her voice quivered. "He doesn't realize that I don't care because I can't care. We would be broken if I decided to do the same as he does. He doesn't know how much I miss them. He doesn't remember that I've gone through this before." She sobbed, watching the night draw in._

"_Hm," Delia hummed, reaching over and settling her hand on hers. "I was good friends with Suzanne and Victor," she began softly, looking at their hands. "Victor and I grew up together and did basically everything together. It reminds me of you and Gary. Even when he was away we would keep it touch. He may have seemed hardheaded to most people, but he could always make us laugh," she giggled as if an old memory popped into mind._

_Alex finally looked up and realized that just because her and Ryan were the only family they really had, didn't mean they were the only one's that missed them. The whole, teensy town knew everybody. And she also realized that she had never even seen Ash's father. She had run out of tears and frowned at her mug. "I just want to take care of him. He's the only family I have left and-"_

"_Now you just sop right there," Delia cut her off. Alex had to sigh, because she was always told it was rude to interrupt people in the middle of a sentence. Grownups didn't seem to follow that rule very often. "Just because we're not your parents doesn't mean we're not family. You and Ryan are _my_ two other children. I'm sure Professor Oak feels the same. And what about Gary and Ash?"_

_Blinking to process the information, Alex squirmed and looked away with embarrassment. "I'll need to know how to take care of myself sometime," she mumbled. Then she smirked, her dark eyes glowing with something that startled Delia. "I'm not going to let anybody get away with messing with my family or friends anymore. When I grow up, I'm going to be strong."_

* * *

Something flashed in Shadow's eyes. As the button ricocheted off the ground, the volcano on the island groaned and ash flew out with a whistle like a cork had popped off and a heat wave dried everything up. The crack of thunder mingled with the howling of the red-hot volcano and reflected of Shadow's eyes, making the purplenette Amethyst stumble back.

The screams of another purplenette were the center of attention and the girl with her cape moved like a flash toward Xena. "Arbok, come on. Use poison tail!" she called out with rage, and the snake launched itself ahead and matched the slash of the fire type typhlosion with its radioactive tail. Shadow stood defensively in front of her crazy friend.

"Xena, are you okay?" Shadow asked through her teeth, only receiving a pained whine as a reply.

"Oh, this is interesting," Gregory Schurmann acclaimed. "A member of the Soul Salvation actually caring about another person, how sweet! I comment you, Snake, for finally finding me. And you've got such a bold little tiger right here. I wish I could stay to see how this intriguing spectacle would end, but I regret to say that there is not an opening in my schedule. Alias, I bid the adieu." He bowed at Shadow.

"What a pity," Dimentio said smoothly, though his eyes wanted to strangle the man. He returned his charcoaled-feathered owl back to the protection of its pokeball.

With a crocked smirk, Gregory turned. "Girls, let's get out of here."

"Just let them go. We have bigger problems," said Dimentio to Shadow, who was about to hijack the aircraft as it was rising to beat the crap out of the aggravating team of criminals. "Look, this island is about to be overcome with lava. We must be hasty. Get those trainers out of the cage."

"Wait! I just remembered something," Shadow shouted at the man, making him stop and whip around. Smiling reassuringly, she turned and yelled, "I'll be back!" over her shoulder, feeling the cape kick up behind her. She swept into the huge cement Grand Hall without fear of being caught and passed through the secret passage behind Gregory's big head. Her feet clopped down the dark, vacant passage once again.

"HEY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Is anybody down here?" As the girl had hoped, a handful of men in black suits with wires coiling out of their ears and dark shades jumped into the hallway.

"How'd she get down here?"

"Probably because you weren't at your post at the door."

"Chill down guys. You work for Gregory Schurmann, correct?" Shadow said in a commanding tone over the bickering group of hedge men.

"Yeah, his best men," replied one of the larger, bigmouthed ones, his buddies nodding furiously to reinforce his statement. "And what exactly would you be? A gothic Easter egg?" He laughed, his colleagues mimicking.

Frowning and self-consciously touching her bright blue hair, Shadow snapped. "Oh yeah, well I really doubt you're his _best_ men. I mean, leaving you down here while taking the _Joys_ with him." She scoffed, turning her back to them. "So I guess you also wouldn't know where the control to the volcano is either. Too bad." She peeked out of one eye and knew she had made the effect she wanted. She began to walk away, roped hair swishing along her back.

One shot, "She's bluffing!"

"How did ya know the volcano was machine operated?" One blurted.

"At least she doesn't know about the panel in the golden tree in the forest right by the quick sand." It was silent for the next few second as everybody gaped at the man with the incredibly big mouth. "O-oh wait," he stuttered, scratching his cheek sheepishly, "Did I say gold tree in the forest? I meant the er… purple tree by the… oh, who am I kidding?"

"Nobody," Shadow smiled sweetly, and then glared. "So shut up." She moved outside the portrait, calling back in, "Oh, by the way, I should have mentioned this sooner but your boss deserted you on this island several minutes ago that the volcano's about to blow up."

It was silent for a few seconds more. "Get to the boat!" the men yelled, charging outside with more speed than imaginable for men in such fine suits.

The freed group of people from the cage stood aside, watching the strange group flee, bellowing out cries about the volcano, a boat, and their mommas…The blond Nicky stared after them, raising a finger at them, "Follow the momma's boys, charge!"

"Ahhhhhhh!" Everybody screamed as they stampeded right after the wailing men.

Dark and Shadow arrived at the scene where an injured and bleeding Xena lay, moaning and groaning and withering on the ground with Paul growling at her with his normal scowl, but still worrying, and Dimentio on his SS device telling their ride to pick them up.

Dark sauntered up to the small group not long after, keeping his head down with his weavile curled over his shoulder. "There's a boat docked at the far end of the beach. There was a medical crew onboard and a sailor that were locked up in the brig of the ship. The doctors were rushing straight here immediately and the sailor is making preparations to set sail as soon as they get back," he explained dryly.

"Paul!" Xena groaned, clasping onto her cousin's - who of which was standing near her - jacket, and pulled him down close to her. "This may be where it ends for me. There's only one hope now. Go in my backpack and find the emergency kit.

The bag, which was still where Shadow put it after retrieving it, was dumped out and a medium sized bag with "In Case Of Emergency" written on it tumbled out. Paul grabbed it and tore the brown paper bag away. He stopped, however, and got an extremely agitated look on his face. "Xena, you idiot! All that's in here is a jar of peanut butter!" Everybody sweat dropped.

"But Paul!" She whined. "I… You…uh…"

"You idiot! You're supposed to stay awake!" Her cousin shouted at her, just at the moment nurses pushed him out of the way as they hoisted the limp and bloodied body onto a gurney and shuffled their way back to the ship.

"Come on, dear Shadow. It is time to make our leave as well."

"No!" she refused. "There are wild pokemon on this island. I know where the panel is I just have to go find it and shut it down."

"There is no time!" Dimentio yelled in her face, giving Shadow the urge to backhand his perfect pale face, but stopped her twitching hand. He turned the girl's face using his white-gloved hand, pinching her cheeks between his thumb and index finger and guiding her sight to the volcano.

The large, brown, quaking mount spewed out more jet-black smoke that began to flutter down in thick layers like a black snowstorm. Molten red and black liquid seethed over the narrow opening edges of the volcano and over the rim like water a wave breeching a levee. It rolled down, slow as molasses with its orange glow.

"All the more reason to hurry." She pushed free of the man's harsh grasp and ran like the wind. She felt a presence behind her and discovered Dark and his pokemon at her side. They pushed through the over brush and stumbled over tree roots until Shadow found herself in familiar territory. At least, she was pretty sure it was.

A tug sent Shadow nearly flying into a tree. "Quicksand." A voice said, but it didn't sound like Dark's. But seeing as he was the only person within the vicinity, and the fact that she hadn't heard him speak all that much, Shadow just shrugged it off.

"Thanks," she muttered. She was in such a hurry that she had recklessly forgotten about the trapping ground. "Hey, there's a leaf." She pointed to the far side of the relatively smooth terrain, you know, besides the man-eating ground.

"Well that's reasonable. I mean, it is a forest; there are a lot of trees with leaves."

Shadow twitched. "I'm not stupid. I thought you were the one preaching the whole _'be observant'_ shit," she mocked. "I mean it's _gold_. And we're looking for a _gold_ tree."

"Shut up," Dark snarled, noticing Shadow flinch. "And how do you propose we get over there when there's a death trap straight ahead. We have no idea where the dangerous patches are."

"Well we can call on," started Shadow as she reached for her belt, but caught a fist full of air. "Oh, right. I don't have my pokeballs." She sighed sadly.

"And this is exactly why I came with you," he snapped back as though he had to do _everything_ himself and was the _only_ reliable one. "Sparky, we need your assistance." The fierce feline appeared once again in the evil clutches of the forest and activated its X-ray vision. "Follow right behind us."

With careful steps guided by the large lion, Shadow and Dark slowly but surely made their way across the forest floor. At last they reached the other side to safety, but it was short lived. The stench of scorched grass and smoke was heavy and the faint sound of sizzling could be heard as the lava flowed over the land.

"We have to hurry!" Shadow exclaimed, lunging further towards the danger, following a string of sparkling yellow leaves until she nearly ran headfirst into what seemed to be the largest tree in the whole woodland.

The entirety of the formation was golden, glistening amber near the top as it reflected off the raging flashes of the volcano. The leaves hung delicately as though they could fall with the tiniest of whispers, yet the truck was thick and sturdy.

"So, how does this work?" Shadow wondered, investigating the structure with a close eye. She knocked on the base, causing a black grid screen to flip out of nowhere and stick an inch out of the trunk. A fluctuating green line bounced up like green hills as it demanded in a choppy, annoying, robotic voice, _"Password."_

"Ah, open sesame?" Shadow tried.

_"Access. Denied."_

"How about hocus-pocus?"

_"How. About. No."_

"Okay then. No."

_"Still. No."_

"How about open or else?"

"_Or. Else. What."_

"Arg, I said open!" Shadow yelled putting her face an inch away from it.

_"Password."_

Dark shook his head dismally as he watched the girl fight with a machine. She tried prying it out with her hands, beating it with a twig until it broke – not the machine, mind you – and kicking it with her boot, which resulted in her hopping around on one foot, clutching the appendage and cursing.

With a growl, Shadow pointed up at the dark heavens and bellowed in the loudest voice she could muster, "Curse you, Gregory Schurmann!"

_"Gregory. Schurmann. Password. Accepted."_

The girl fell to the ground and twitched. "He used his goddamn name?" she muttered lifelessly. "Stupid, strong little hunk of junk."

"I wouldn't lay there for very long unless you want to die," stated Dark, perfectly content leaning against a tree and watching the show from afar while staying out of it himself.

Shadow rolled up on her back with her legs curled up to her chest and leapt up to see two panels pop open from the monitor like doors to a series of gears turning and grinding around. A red light was flashing above the gears, as well as a lever to the right. She tried pulling on the lever, but it just wouldn't budge, even when she was practically hanging from it. It was times like those when she cursed her nearly non-existent weight.

"Move," said Dark, pushing the girl on her bottom and tugging on the handle with a strong hand and all the force he could muster to make it move. Oh, it moved all right. It snapped right in two.

"And you called me the idiot?" Shadow mocked.

Dark glared. "You think sarcasm's going to help you know? If you haven't noticed we just ran all this way for nothing because we still can't stop this stupid thing." He shot his attention to luxray. "Sparky, use thunderbolt on it." Luxray powered up and blasted the tree with a blue electric current. The thing fizzed, but the gears kept turning. If anything, it made the ground tremble even worse, cracks appearing in the dirt. "It's useless." He saw the smirk she held as she stood up.

"No way am I letting this get the better of me." Shadow marched straight up to the box sticking out of the tree. She raised her big, black boot and slammed it down once again. The gears and screws and everything fell out on impact into one messy pile.

Dark watched futilely with an expression between exasperation and anger, a huge step forward since he had only been seen with a poker face. "You really are the idiot; that'll probably make it worse!" But to both their surprise, the rumbling stopped and the malevolent cloud in the sky ceased to keep increasing in size.

With a few more unnecessary stomps of her foot connecting with the mechanisms, Shadow spat, "Nothing messes with Alex Roxanne Summers and gets away with it!"

"Hn," Dark pointed to the incoming red liquid crawling for them. "What about that, genious?" His emotionless was façade back in control.

"Oh dears! Up here!" sang a masculine voice, and looking skyward, the two saw the dangling white rope ladder and…

"Hohoho," the man drabbed in red called down. No, not Mario, get your head out of the video games. It was SANTA CLAUSE! With his big sleigh and team of stantler hovering in place. His big, smiling face peered over at them with a cherry red hat on top. "Are you alright, little girl?"

"Hey, snap out of it!" snapped Dark, leaning over Shadow.

"What happened?" Shadow groaned, slowly sitting up.

"Sorry about that," called Dimentio.

The Night Rider hovered above them, the white ladder that had knocked the girl out for a few minutes dangling just at their reach. The two made quick work up climbing up, and peered out the window as the orange-red monster ate their previous standing spots.

"What about all the wild pokemon?" Shadow whispered sadly, still wincing at the sting in her head and the worry in the pit of her stomach.

Dimentio placed a hand on her shoulder. "They can take care of themselves. Once everything cools down they'll be fine."

The girl nodded, feeling like a child again; being reassured and comforted by an adult. "Okay."

Dimentio led her away from the sight as they left the blazing island behind them and flew close over the ocean to avoid the colossalclouds that created a low ceiling. "Now come along. Some introductions are in order, I do believe. Shadow this is Chaos, a member of our house. It was lovely for you to join us, by the way. Chaos, this is our newest member, Shadow."

"Nice to meet you." Shadow greeted the boy though gritted teeth after he snubbed her off with a disdainful once over and a scoff. She crossed her arms across her chest, taking long soothing breaths.

"Oh my, things certainly turned chilly in here fast." Dimentio shot them a joking, toothy smile. "Maybe you two didn't meet on the most pleasurable circumstances, but you _will_ greet each other in a civilized and polite manner. Understand, Chaos?"

Dark looked back from the wall apathetically. Meeting the girl's own glare, he strode over. "It's a pleasure, Shadow," he stated blandly.

"Are you a robot or were you just born a stiff?"

"Shadow!" Dimentio chided the girl in a raised voice.

Plastering the fakest smile possible on her lips and the peppiest tone she could manage, she said, "I apologize for my behavior. Please, the pleasure is all mine. I'm just sure we'll be the best of friends!" then putting a dramatic bounce in her step, she beamed, rolled her shady eyes at the snake-man and skipped away to find her pokemon.

Dark let out a sound like a strangled cough and walked to a seat where he could watch the sea and sky blur together, a product of the speed at which they were going, and zone everything else out. A faint smile graced his lips.

With a sigh, Dimentio rubbed his face. "Why must they all tease their leader so? All the best pawns are so difficult to work with." He talked to himself and mentally braced himself while he looked for his dear Shadow to tell her the new he knew she was not going to enjoy.

* * *

Hahaha, what isn't she going to like, I wonder? Hmmm, any idea? Is Xena going to be okay? And is Dark really a robot? I sure hope not, that would be damn creepy. Well, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Happy everything!

Peace out!


	24. The S Word

**Pokémon**

Arg. I'm sorry. I'm not totally happy with this chapter, probably why I procrastonated so much to put it up. It has been written 3 times, I do believe, and this was the best result (sadly). I have no idea why I'm displeased, but hopefully you guys don't feel the same way. And...I'm sorry for not updating sooner, I had it written for about a week =.='' I give you full permission to cyber hit me, but _please_ do not let any harm come to my cake! xP My Birthday was yesterday so that is my excuse. Well, enjoy the chapter anyway, I gave it my best shot.

**Chapter # 24 – The "S" word**

Alex woke up, for once, from streaming sunlight through the window. Naturally, she flinched away from the light source. She buried her face into her pillow, feeling like going back to sleep for a very long time until her "reality" nightmare was finally over. But, since getting rid of that wasn't as easy as the ones in the dream world, she didn't. Instead she let out a long groan and rolled over to lie on her back. "What have I gotten myself into…?" she breathed out, "Arg," she hauled herself up grudgingly, padding softly to the bathroom after shooting her regular colored, peacefully sleeping eevee an adoring glance from the doorway then disappearing through it.

Hopping in the shower, Alex thought back to the day that she had dropped everything and impulsively went out in search of adventure, and what she thought and hoped would help her plagued mind, not that it helped matters…_at all_.

_**Flashback**_

_Alex heaved a sighed as she sat cross-legged on the ground, staring uninterestedly at the two boys calling attacks left and right for their pokemon to perform. Umbreon was resting in a heap near her after she fixed up most of its wounds with bandages and potions, something Ryan pointedly sent her packages of regularly. At the moment it was blastoise and torterra and the destruction they were doing on the small area was pretty severe. Normally she would have been on the edge of seat, but she just didn't understand what they were doing, challenging each other within a few minutes of meeting. Couldn't she have sat and had a short chat with her best friend to miraculously make her in a good mood? It wasn't as if she enjoyed wanting to snap at everything that happened to catch her attention._

_Eevee bumped her trainer's knee, holding the strap of Alex's bag in her mouth. A ringing sound was emitting a buzz from within. Hastily before the jingle could stop, the girl tugged her pokenav out and flicked in on. "Hello?"_

_"Alex? It's Ryan." The boy's face showed up on the small screen, the same brown hair and eyes. "You'll never guess where I am."_

_"So tell me," she sighed tiredly, not taking her eyes off the two opponents in combat (the boys)…or four depending on whom you counted. She began to stroke the fur of her fox as the creature settled against her knee._

_Ryan stuck out his tongue playfully. "Trust me, you'll be glad when you see what I've found. Meet me at Lake Valor Lakefront. It's regarding our parent's things."_

_Alex turned shocked like she had been jolted with a lightning bolt. "Seriously?" And after nearly being the victim of a water attack, she darted out of range of the field. She planted her back against a tree, facing away from the boys, yet could still hear everything clearly much to her exasperation._

_"Would I lie? I'll see you soon." With that Ryan cut the connection._

_"Holy shit!" Alex cursed in a hush, signaling eevee from her front row seat of the fight to follow her in the forest and climb on her black, fast moving canine. "Doom, we're heading back for Lake Valor, stat." Her scattered brain didn't give a second thought, or even a first, about the duo back on the field._

_Both boys were too preoccupied to notice when she left. They hadn't heard a thing outside of what was happening and just expected her to be watching from the same exact spot they had left her, but when they spun around to ask whose win it was, she was already gone without a trace of her being there to begin with._

**Time Skip**

_Alex patted her panting dog on the head in gratitude and tapped a ball to its snout lightly. She and her eevee stepped into the area the Valor Lakefront and looked around the town in search of the boy they had been in contact with. "Where would he be?" Alex pondered. "Well it is lunch time, maybe he went into one of the restaurants."_

_"Ee," the fox acknowledged a large building that looked like a fancy, gourmet place._

_"Good job, Isis," Alex praised, "That looks like somewhere Ryan would go." So she more surely walked through the street and to her destination._

_The doors opened with ease to a large, open space with bright walls and glossy tiled floors as well as a beautiful chandelier hanging high above and catching the light. The light tinkling of silverware and twittering of chatter murmured through the room next door, as well as the amazing aroma of home cooked meals wafting through the air._

_"Wow, this is a change of atmosphere, for sure," she stated, feeling her mood lifting even more._

_"Welcome," greeted a man with curly gray hair and formal attire with a black bow tie and trousers, a white button-up and red vest. "Do you have a reservation?"_

_"Ah…?" Alex drawled dumbly. "I don't know, do you have anything for Summers?"_

_The man hummed for a moment, going behind a little stand and flipping through a book. "Yes, we do. Right this way."_

_Alex and eevee complied, going through another set of doors to a battling arena where a pretty lady in a light summer dress and sunhat with flowing aquamarine hair, and a blue-haired gentleman clad in a light suit, a powder blue vest and orange collar stood next to each other blocking the entrance to the next room. Over to the side was another man in a dressy black tux and flippy brown hair. Each greeted her upon her arrival._

_"Took you long enough, sis," stated another person sneaking up behind her. Ryan strode up in his pale yellow t-shirt and faded blue jeans to give Alex a brotherly hug and dragged her directly opposite of the other female._

_"So," Alex said bewilderedly, looking around the room casually, "what's going on?"_

_"To enter the 7 Stars Restaurant you must first win your battle with the pair opposite you."_

_"Oh…kay?" she replied, while thinking _'this is so weird'_**.**_

_"Aaaaand, begin!" exclaimed the brunette with the swing of his arm._

_"Gerafarig," "Driftblem," "Positions!" called the formally dressed pair. The field glowed as a pokemon with a horse's figure that yellow in the front with brown dots and brown in the back with yellow dots, a pink nose with pink spikes running down its spine and finally a circular head with a big set of chompers attached to a short, narrow tail, also brown, appeared with its partner, a lavender colored balloon with an X covering most of its face/body, two beady, black eyes, a small, cloud like shape on its forehead, and two black, stringy arms with a small, yellow heart hands._

_"It's just like old times, eh Lex?" Ryan smiled._

_Alex giggled and nodded. "Prepare for trouble because you're dealing with the Summer's twins!"_

_Ryan gasped and pointed an accusing finger at his sister. "You totally just stole a line from Team Rocket!"_

_"Oh, I did, didn't I? Well, I had this really weird dream last night and they were there so it must have gotten into my head. Hmmm,"_

_"Ah," Ryan sweatdropped, "At least it wasn't a nightmare, right?"_

_Alex shrugged and looked at him with large eyes. "I dunno, it was pretty scary."_

_"Aw," the lady giggled into her gloved hand with a high, squeaky tone. "They're having one of those brother/sister bicker and make up scenes as they're reunited, how **cute**~!" Her teal eyes watched as the two shot responses back at each other, oblivious to the world around them._

_The man wasn't as impressed as he had his arms crossed over and a bored expression. "As entertaining as this is," he spoke sharply, his words smothered with sarcasm galore, "But procrastinating will not aid you in winning this battle."_

_"Right," the siblings answered simultaneously with a slight blush. "And technically, we're not twins," Ryan added._

_"Oh shut up," Alex growled playfully, rolling her brown orbs. They always used to pretend they were twins when they were younger because nobody was able to tell differently, except for their parents, of course. "Star, let's battle!"_

_"Rogue, this is yours."_

_The duo of pokemon hit the floor, the first the mid-sized lion known as luxio, and its partner who was about the same size with a round body full of spiky tan fur, a pair of cat-like ears with brown insides, large, glowering eyes and a big pink nose with flaring nostrils on its face. It had two brown legs forked with two toes and arms scrunched into boxing fists, and its wrists and ankles with thick silver bands. A vein pulsed out above the creature commonly known as primape's left eye._

_And ten minutes later, the sibling pair was seated in a dining room with a full three-course meal placed in front of them, along with eevee seated on the table with a bowl of pokemon food. A comfortable silence fell over the brunettes as they ate, and ended as Alex placed her spoon back in an empty bowl._

_"So, what was so important that you pulled me all the way back here again?" Alex asked, dabbing her lips with a napkin and self-consciously eyeing the formally dress couples occupying the other tables._

_Ryan folded his hands and rested them on the surface after setting his dishes aside. He leaned forward in his seat, and an expression of enthusiasm broke across his features like he was about to burst with the most thrilling secret. "Okay, so this customer was in Pallet Town a little while back and was talking about these strange happenings in Sinnoh recently – it's been on the news a lot lately. Anyhow, we got to talking and they said they hoped it didn't get as bad as it did in Kanto 10 years ago."_

_Blinking at her brother, Alex cocked her head to the side and quirked a brow. The boy looked at her eagerly, waiting for some kind of reaction. Finally she responded with a, "So?"_

_"So?" He repeated disbelievingly. "Lex, it's the same time our parents went missing! There have been a few cases of abduction here and if it's the same as Kanto experienced then-"_

_"Ry, our parents are…" she cut herself off halfway through her contradiction as she received a stern, cutting glare. "My bad." Alex tiredly ran her hand over her eyelids and sighed. "Okay, just because what this person said conveniently coincides with the year our parents… doesn't mean it's in any way connected."_

_"Ah," Ryan beamed, throwing his finger up as to say 'one moment', "But I know that. So I went back up to dad's office and looked through some of his journal, after I cleaned up, of course."_

_"You mean those ones we flipped through when we were little? Ryan, half of those were in some kind of jibberish mess, and the other's were about the non-happenings of boring ol' Pallet Town."_

_"That's what I remembered too, so I went back and started sorting through it as my new project and after further reading I," he held his finger in the air again and lifted his satchel from the ground and unclipped the flap, then sliding a small, compact and highly used book from the others. He opened it straight to a book-marked page and handed it over. "I came across this. You know what it is? No? It's a coded message, and the loose paper beside it is how to decode it."_

_"And," Alex drawled, her coffee orbs peering over the book, "what does it say?"_

_"It talks about a group: The S.S. I don't know what it stands for."_

_"...Where can we find them?"_

_Smirking almost evilly, Ryan cackled, "Turn the page, my dear sister."_

**_End Flashback_**

By this time, Alex was out of the bathroom and slumped over a plushy chair. Feeling like a change, she wanted something light, but not white or the blue she was clad in as Roxy Monroe, so she tugged on a pair of pale gray shorts and a forest green tee with her lovable running shoes. And as soon as she flopped down in exhaustion her stomach gave a mighty roar, making her groan. Damn stomach, whining at her for food. As if it were important, necessary even!

Regardless, the brunette emerged from the room with her backpack secured to her back and eevee at her side. She wandered down the narrow hall, her hand brushing over the bright walls until it ended. She sat down at a booth and ordered a sandwich and water, which felt strange since she was used to having some form of caffeine every time she ate. However, her brother had recently made her promise to stop with the coffee because it made her edgy and somewhat crazy. Psh, whatever that meant. It was a pleasant change though, and she felt well rested enough to not need it. She nibbled at the bread, feeding the crusts to her fox, who had a bowl of poffins in front of her. Bitter with a tad of sweet, just the way the little fox liked it.

The silence of the meal was broken by a gentle baritone voice standing next to the table, which asked, "Would you mind if I sat there?"

Alex jumped about a mile high, too lost in her own thoughts to even notice anybody was in the same vicinity as her. She nodded slowly, swallowing the last bit of the second quarter of her sandwich after nearly choking on it and downed a good portion of water. Her dark chocolate eyes followed his movements closely, not feeling very confident about strangers after the month she just had.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Kyler Kendrick." The boy offered her a polite smile.

Kylar was very tall and thin, as Alex noticed before he sat down, but he looked young, maybe a year or so older at the most. His skin was well tanned but seemed natural enough and as she watched him move to get comfortable and ordered, she noticed he was almost unnaturally graceful. Each thing he did seemed elegant. He had deep-set eyes in a beautiful aquamarine that could make you feel lost in a sparkling, vast ocean-blue, and straight bronze/caramel hair down to the base of his neck with three sections of bangs sectioned off perfectly and wisped down to the bridge of his nose and his temples. To finish off his polished look he was drabbed in white skinnies, a casual, blue, short-sleeve button up shirt and a loose, plain white tie.

Alex didn't know what it was, but she felt a kind and cheerful aura about him that it felt as though it were being transferred to her. Realizing she had sort of been staring, she blinked back into reality. "Sorry, I'm Alex Summers, and this is my eevee. It's a pleasure to meet you." She took her forth quarter of the sandwich and thought 'Kendrick…why does that sound familiar?'

"The pleasure is all mine." He watched her for a few short moments, much like she did, and chuckled. He lifted a glass of water to his full lips and said, "You're weary of me," before taking a sip.

It was a statement, but Alex felt the need to answer. "I'm not going to lie. So yes, I find this quite odd. No offense, but why are you sitting here?" Her voice had diminished to a whisper at the end and she found herself slightly leaning on the table. Quickly, she leaned back and glanced down to her nearly finished food nervously, hoping she hadn't upset the boy too much.

Kylar let out a highly amused laugh. "I don't know about you, but I hate eating alone. You look like a nice young lady that I could have an enjoyable conversation with while having my lunch. But if you would rather I will find a seat elsewhere-"

"No, that's fine," Alex said quickly, finding herself laughing. "To tell you the truth I've been a bit on edge lately. Sorry if I insulted you."

The boy nodded at Nurse Joy – who brought his lunch over – and replied, "Don't be silly, it's fine. Thinking about it I probably would have done the same if a complete stranger confronted me while I was off in another world as well."

Alex giggled and sighed. "I don't know. I just, eh…went on a trip recently and it's been hard getting things back to normal. I think some friends are looking for me, and I'm pretty sure they're angry. I don't know why though."

Kyler quirked a brow at her, but smiled and didn't question her. "Well, did they not want you to go on this…trip?" Seeing her bite her bottom lip and lift her shoulders in a small shrug, he smiled knowingly. "You know, even if you think people are fine with you going away doesn't mean they don't worry, especially if you don't tell them first. I don't know why you did it, but you should apologize. I realized the same lesson not to long back, and I've had the same thing happen to me, and I guarantee, they probably have a right to be mad." Kyler sighed, seeing she still didn't look convinced.

"My little sister," he started again. "A couple of months ago I was taking care of her while my parents were out on a business trip. We had gotten in a bit of a disagreement the day before they left and wouldn't talk to me or even look at me for the rest of the day. She avoided me. About two days after they left I went up to her room to apologize and…she wasn't there. I was frantic; I searched every corner of our house multiple times and just when I was going to call the police, she walked through the door, calm as she could be. Well of course I was relieved but oh, I was mad. She was surprised that I cared; her exact words were 'I didn't think you would care'. And that was the worst part of it all."

"Wow, I feel like such a jerk," Alex whispered dejectedly.

"Well as long as you say you're sorry," Kyler responded cheerfully, "then I wouldn't worry yet." He never once lost his calm, polite demeanor.

Despite herself, Alex laughed. "You know, I'm really glad I met you today, Kyler Kendrick. I am sorry I ever doubted you."

Eevee, who was grinning foxily at her trainer and contentedly wagging her tail because of the smile on Alex's face, was the only one to see another oncoming person. The fox frowned at the obvious anger on the person's face. They came up too fast for her too cry out, so all she could do was recoil back - as did her trainer and the boy - in shock.

Kyler's nearly full water glass sloshed and spilled over from the force as a palm slapping down on the end of their table.

"Oh my god!" Alex jumped for the second time. Slowly, her eyes followed the up the arm while her hand rested on her racing heart. "Oh," she gasped lightly. Wide eyed, she looked at the table and said quietly, "Hello, Paul." She felt like a little girl being scolded for doing something really bad, especially since the scowl on the purplette's face was not his normal one. "So, how have you been?"

Paul snorted. "How have I been?" He looked like he wanted to laugh in her face and shake some sense into her. "You disappeared for a month while that idiot was here!" His voice was like a deep growl, much angrier than it usually was. "Then you show up again and have the nerve to ask how _I_ have been?"

"I-"

"You could have been kidnapped. That Gary guy was worried that you had gotten hurt."

"Just Gary?" Alex whispered.

"Yeah, he dragged me everywhere looking for you. He was worried you were in trouble. But now you're just sitting here calmly eating lunch with some guy like it doesn't even matter."

"But Gary's gone back to Pallet now, isn't that right?" Her voice was gradually growing stronger.

"How would you know that? You run off at every chance you get."

"Now hold on a second, sir," Kyler cut in softly yet firmly, standing and placing a hand on Paul's shoulder. Alex couldn't believe he was still so peaceful and elegant after all the yelling, because she was feeling the fire and rage of her charizard building up.

"Stay you of this," Paul snarled, slapping his hand away. He slammed his fist on the table again, making Alex whimper and back away, and she felt like she was being looked down upon since she was seated and both, seething boys were standing at full height – Kyler more so.

And apparently Kyler had had enough as well. His face darkened, like he changed and was now a totally different person. "Listen here. Ms Summers here is a very nice young lady and I do not like how you are speaking to her so I would just calm the hell down and let her speak." His fists were clentched at his sides and shaking uncontrollably. His face was lowered, covering three-quarters of his face and his baritone voice had a nasty tone etched into it. He turned his general direction back to Alex and said, "I changed my mind. He doesn't deserve an apology. He's a real jerk. But it was a pleasure meeting you." Unexpectedly, he snatched up her hand and kissed it through the material of her glove. Without another word, Kyler stalked out of the Pokemon Center.

Alex and eevee watched Paul, scrunched up as close to the wall as they could get.

_"What were you thinking, Alex?" _She heard a distant voice of a memory at the back of her mind. She winced, waiting for another outburst from Paul, but he didn't look as vicious as he did before. He was frowning. "I-I'm sorry, Paul," Alex gulped. She was really hoping she hadn't had to deal with this right after her return. "I know, I've been acting like a complete jerk and I should have told you where I was going. I just-"

_'…thought you wouldn't care'. That was the worst part._

"I was stupid and tired. I know that's no excuse now. And as hard as it is to believe, Kyler helped me realize that, and I was going to go and find you again but apparently you found me first."

Paul had taken Kyler's seat, arms folded and looking out the window, his regular scowl on his face. "Where were you?"

_'I can't tell him everything, that will put him in danger. But if I don't tell him something then he'll be mad.'_ "My brother told me he needed me to do something for him and it was very urgent. I took off immediately." Not a complete lie.

"Do what?" Paul demanded off-handedly. Of course he wouldn't just let it go. He had to be difficult.

Alex chewed on her lip again, looking away. She could see the irritation in Paul's onyx eyes now situated on her. "It had to do with our parents."

Realizing that this would be uncomfortable for the both of them, Paul back off and replied with a curt nod. He mumbled something inaudible, to which Alex questioned him. "I said I'm sorry too," he grumbled lowly, staring outside again.

"So, are we good now?" Alex asked hesitantly.

"Are you going to disappear like that again?"

"I promise I will do my best not to go off again while we're traveling together without telling you first," Alex sighed. She looked up at him nervously to see him staring straight back.

"Tch, whatever," Paul scoffed, crossing his arms and turning his head away.

Alex smiled brightly and somehow managed to get on the other side of the table and pull the boy into a friendly hug. Even if he didn't say it, she knew she was forgiven. "I promise," she mumbled from her awkward position, "that I will be a better friend to you. How does leaving tomorrow sound? We can take my charizard!"

After the girl pulled away, Paul could give her a questioning glance. "You surely aren't just going to leave without getting a badge first."

Giving him a toothy grim, Alex replied, "Naturally I got it as soon as I caught word that Fantina was back. And I won all thanks to my newly evolved croconaw!"_ 'Courtesy of the secret stash of items found of the Soul Salvation ship' _she added. Scooping up her fox, Alex left some money on the table to cover lunch and skipped to the doors. "I feel like some fresh air and sunshine! And most of all, training! What do you say, Paul?" She smirked at him. "Wanna have a battle?"

* * *

O...kay. Please don't hurt me too badly. I have the next chapter written already so if I'm not feeling too lazy, I'll put it put in a couple of days to make up for it. And just for the record, the "S" word is sorry, and I hate that word severely. Anybody else, or is that just me? And, uh, alright. I'd just like to say, as well, that I actually have a plot all layed out now.

Paul: You mean you didn't have one already? I've just being doing things randomly with no apparent reason

Piano-girl: ...maybe.

Paul: *eye twitches furiously*

Piano-girl: Nah, I'm just joshing ya xP Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Now, be a good boy and go get me another piece of cake ^.^

...Yeah, I'm kind of tired. Bonne nuit, goodnight... and don't even think about touching my cake. Oh, and review!


	25. Triple Knockout

**Pokémon**

Well hello there, fabulous people. I tis here with the next chapter. So, as you guessed I got lazy and delayed my "few days" update. But hey, I'm pretty sure it's still earlier than usual! Oh, and Happy belated Valentines Day! Now, some news from me :D

Well, I realized that last chapter I neglected to mention at the end that **Kyler Kendrick** will be an important character later on. He wasn't just a random apperance. So remember that name! And if you don't know who I'm talking about right now then you need to go read chapter 24 again!

And the lovely people who reviewed :) Cyber hugs for everyone!

**Crimson. light. of. Death :** o.0 It's been a while. Anyway, that S word is the worst, right? It's even painful to write! :) Thanks. And message!

**Ashuri :** YOU'RE WELCOME! xP And abandon my dear (I almost wrote dead :P) little Alex? Never! Awww, thanks a bunch :3

**Rikka :** Forget? Lol, no, I'm just lazy. I'm trying to work through that. Oooh cake! :D Thanks! Wow, not many people like him. He's one of my favorites as well, but he doesn't get aired in the anime very often and I find it sad :( I missed him too ;P But he's back for a while now so it's okay! Thank you very much! I try.

And a thanks to those who favorited/alerted or is reading this story. Enjoy!

**Chapter 25 – Triple Knockout**

_"What do you say, Paul?" She smirked at him. "Wanna have a battle?"_

A few minutes later Alex and Paul had found a small area in the city off to the side of a more barren street. There weren't as many things to destroy there, making the two deem it suitable. Buildings were far off in the distance, as well as the constant sounds of the city people.

Alex stood gleefully on one side, brimming with excitement since she had never actually had a proper battle with the boy. Eevee stood confidently at her side, once again happy with the purplette now that the whole disappearing thing was behind them. Swinging the heavy straps off her back, the brunette flung her bag off to the side and stretched her arms out, cracking her knuckles. "So, what are the rules of this battle?"

"Three-on three. The first one with two wins is the victor," Paul called back. His face remained indifferent though he was reasonably eager to train with the girl, especially since he had recently found out she grew up in the same place as _Ash_. In some ways, he could see similarities in the two, which he didn't like at all. But on the other hand Alex was more so different than his rival.

Both trainers nodded in agreement at the decided rules and plucked a pokeball from their arsenal. The red and white capsules soared high in the air and burst with a glow of white, unleashing the creatures within.

For the girl's side was a mid sized brown ground type in its fully evolved form with a skull mask and a bone club. "Maro-wak!" he cheered, twirling its weapon like a baton and finishing with it pointing at its opponent like a swordsman.

Its opponent on the other side was an inky black pokemon twice its size with a shell-like body in a shape that rather resembled a scorpion and a bat mixed together. Fangs peeked out from its lips and it looked down at it with big, completely yellow eyes. Its hands were jagged crab-like claws that it were snapping together like chomping teeth. Its inner ears, skinny arms and torso were all banded with red, and attached to the end of its arms all the way down to the start of its scorpion tail were two black gliders.

"You have the first move," Paul said, crossing his arms. His face was pensive as he stared at the ground type on the opposing side, but you couldn't have been able to tell if you didn't know him well.

Alex smirked and nodded. "Ok, let's go with bone club!" With a spin of its white weapon marowak threw its arm back and gave it a good whip towards Paul's gliscor, with it rotating so fast it looked like a disk.

"Knock off," Paul called, holding two fingers out on his right hand and slicing the air in front of him from left to right in a diagonal pattern. Gliscor took a rock hard claw and smashed the attack easily, sending it straight back.

"Ok, let's go marowak," Alex nodded, sending the pokemon charging forward. On the way, he snatched its bone back from the air and jumped.

Paul watched it go up and said, "In the air, go. And use x-scissor."

Marowak had begun to descend as its opponent launched itself up as well. "Nah-un," Alex shook her head, "Bone rush, but dodge the blow first." The club held in the bone pokemon's small hand sparked and coated with a white/blue cover and extended by at least three times. It put itself in a sharp nose dive and somersaulted over the X slice incoming for it. Then, it used gliscor's back to turn again and slam its lengthened weapon on the tail end of the pokemon's side, making it suddenly change course in a downward fall.

Like a professional gymnast, marowak landed lightly on its feet and flipped back, its club returning to normal size and color. Fixing a stare up from his kneeling position, the pokemon watched as the purplette trainer shouted for its pokemon to pull up. It did, but not with some trouble and a small crash. He twirled his baton and got back into his previous position with the bone pointed out.

Paul growled. "Sandstorm."

"Ditto, marowak."

A fierce wind whipped up in their vicinity with sharp particles of sand aiding the assault. The gales collided they shot out, blowing in every direction imaginable and causing both trainers to shield their faces away. Nothing was visible anyway, and it had twice the power from it coming from both creatures. The wind was there to stay for a while, with both pokemon concealed within its wrath.

Alex's hair lashed about like it had its own mind, and she felt the grains of sand stinging her bare arms and legs. She cupped one hand over her mouth and buried her eyes in the crook of her arm. She couldn't hear Paul over the howling storm, but yelled in hope her pokemon could still hear her. "Focus punch!"

Paul grimaced, hearing the faint cry for an attack. He was doing much the same as the girl, covering as much of his face as he could while his baggy clothes and hair billowed about. "X-scissor!"

It was quite for a few moments in the eye of the storm, but then there was a clash and a detonating light with a _boom!_ The trainers grunted as they skidded back from the explosion.

"Mar-owwww," The tan particles settled back down to where it belonged, and a ground pokemon cried it's tan eyes out, wailing on the ground with an X carved into its skull mask. It was right smack on the forehead with a crack running down to one of its eyeholes and a jagged chip on the bottom. It had discarded its club recklessly on the flattened, dusty grass and held its hands to its clenched, tear-filled eyes.

Paul and gliscor –who also endured a large amount of injuries - were dumbfounded, and watched as the brunette rushed over to the pokemon and soothed it while cradling it in her arms. "It's your win," she called over with a consoling smile, taking her pokemon back with her.

Alex set marowak down with eevee by her feet, rubbing it affectionately on the head. She kneeled down in front of it and smiled. "It's okay, Skull. You were great. It just means we'll have to train a little bit more, okay?" The pokemon blinked up at her with its watery eyes and nodded slowly, bringing its short arms up to feel the damage to its mask. "Good boy, now take it easy and have some oran berries." She took a handful out of a container from her bag and placed them in front of marowak. Eevee tended to the sniffing pokemon while her trainer put her mind back on the battle.

Paul had returned his pokemon and was patiently waiting as she took her spot. "Alright, time for round two," he said, holding out his next pokeball.

Alex nodded and unclipped her choice of pokemon and tossed it out.

A huge brown and green turtle-shaped pokemon took Paul's side of the field with a small head with a steel horn on each side where ears should be. On the left side of its shell grew a baby tree, while the other side contained three more steel protrusions. The head and shell were leafy colored and the shell rimmed with more steel and a bold, ragidy line splitting the two halves apart. Its underbelly and four trunk-like legs were a dirty brown.

Doom, Alex's black, red and silver houndoom, snuffed its head into the air, drawing its red eyes away from the hefty creature. It always appeared with an uncaring stance, to which Alex now had to laugh as it somewhat reminded her of the purple-haired opponent. "You won the last battle so you start," she stifled a snort and grin.

Paul, with crossed arms, shrugged uncaringly, noticing the girl crack up again. He quirked a brow but didn't mention anything as he called, "Torterra, use stone edge." Pieces of rock magically appeared in the air and shot forward at the half fire type with blinding speed.

The canine's blood cold eyes wretched opened and after a whip of its arrowhead tail, it was gone. Alex smiled happily as the ground was peppered with diamond stones and broke the surface while her canine bounded speedily towards the turtle. "Yeah houndoom," Alex cheered with a fist in the air, "faint attack now!" A dark aura overtook the dog as it rammed torterra's head with its curled horns.

Torterra, feeling relatively fine although a tad baffled at first from the unexpected dash and strike, crossed its eyes to stare directly at red ones. The two were locked in a sort of headbutt, each pushing from the base of their feet up through their powerfully built legs and leaned in with their horns brandished. "Now use leaf storm," Paul shouted, throwing his hand out again. Another gale was blown into action, coiling it's way around the sleek, horned dog and therefore sending it skidding backwards until it reached its own side of the field having its own personal little cyclone of razor like leaves.

Houndoom raked the grassy arena with steely claws to prevent the gust from veering it backward any further. The typhoon continued to slice at it and obscure the outside world, except for its dear trainer calling, "Bring on the fire, houndoom!" So raising its red snout out of its defensive crouch, the canine let ruby flames burst from its fangs, the wind carrying some of it back to engulf its entire body while the rest found their way through the tunnel and sparking the offending grass-type.

The cylinder of wind and surrounding vegetation died away with a shake of houndoom, the flames causing a small detonation and creating a shower of sizzling, combusted leaves. Of course, the heavy turtle flinched away from it as it scorched its rough skin. It was short lasted, however, and soon torterra was back to normal, as was houndoom.

Paul stared at the girl before shaking his head and smirking. "Torterra, use giga drain." The three spikes on the pokemon's back began glowing a metallic green and shot out like vines, arching through the air toward the black dog.

"Not good," Alex sucked in. "Try your best to dodge, houndoom." Her pokemon sailed off like a bullet as the first vine crashed into its previous spot, then made a zigzag pattern to its larger opponent so the attacks would stop. It had no such luck. The vines created a circle around it and before it could figure out which way to go, it was snatch by the midsection and got some of its energy taken before they retreated back to the turtle's body.

"Houndoom, are you alright?" Alex cried worriedly. The creature pulled itself on all fours and nodded. "Ok, I have an idea, go in fast," she commanded confidently, and the pokemon bounded off again at her word.

Torterra, feeling more refreshed, stomped the ground enough to give off a short rumble. "Frenzy plant." Now, actual thorned vines bloomed within the blades of grass and tried to create a sort of barricade for houndoom so it couldn't reach its target. "Tor!" the turtle roared, sending out more of the stalks at the dog, who was running at full speed with its tail and fangs lashing out to destroy any possible threats.

"Now, slide under and use flame thrower!" Alex called anxiously, jumping each time her pokemon nearly got swatted by a giant plant, but now in close proximity, the canine dropped slightly on its side and skidded under the big creature. As it was going through in its slouch, houndoom let loose another flare on torterra's brown belly.

Torterra groaned in pain, collapsing a bit as if to shield its stomach from further harm. Paul grimaced and growled, "Stone edge."

"Quick, fire fang!" The speedy dog used its claws again to halt and throw itself in the other direction, leaping on the grass pokemon's back and sinking its orange flickering teeth into the creature.

Another pained cry drawled out of torterra, trying to get the canine off its back with a collection of glowing stones. This also backfired as its opponent's brunette trainer called for her pokemon to get out of there just as the rocks struck the shell of their creator. The sturdy grass type collapsed completely with exhaustion with swirled eyes.

"Amazing as always, Doom. You really need a good rest now," Alex praised, touching her nose with the canines. Houndoom barked in acknowledgement and allowed its cut up self to be sucked into a red beam.

"Return," was all Paul said, nodding at Alex.

"And last, let's see…" Alex contemplated, pursing her lips. "A-hah!" She plucked her decision off her belt and allowed it to soar upwards. The pokemon that emerged was a blue crocodile, but her totodile was no longer and instead was its evolution, croconaw. Alex smiled fondly, remembering the moment she swiped the evolution stone from Dimentio's supply, and then stuffing a few more in her bag, for "losing" her luxio, then sold a few for some extra money.

_**Flashback**_

_"Oh, Shadow dear!" Dimentio cooed from the hallway, opening the door to their House of Chaos' vault of pokemon. The tall, dark man trapsed in, sweeping his bangs away as he found a red-faced girl in the midst of the library of pokeballs. Her nearly black coffee eyes flared as they fell upon him. Lips pulled into a thin, pale line, long, black hair beating against her back as her boots stomped over. He simply gazed down at her shorter frame with his silvery emerald orbs and his famous charming smirk. "Oh how wonderful, I was looking for you."_

"_I specifically remember having _seven_ pokemon when I arrived here, left all _seven_ here under your orders, and come back after a month and…oh wait! Let's count them together," Alex snapped, trying to put on her best Dora the Explorer impression possible. "One…Two…Three…Four…Five…Six! _Where_ is number seven?"_

"_Well, dear, that is what I wanted to talk to you about. I have some bad news." Dimentio grazed across his face with a false mask of sorrow following after it. "I regret to tell you that your luxio seems to have escaped from our confines and possession." He peeked out between his forth and middle finger to gauge her anger level, which was exponentially rising._

"_You _lost_ my luxio?" Her voice rose past exasperation and furiousness. "You evil bastard, you better not have hurt her!" She screeched, chucking the closest solid object she could get her shaking hands on at the head of the ever-smiling man. _

_He ducked, even though there was no need since the weaons weren't a fraction close to hitting their target. "Those are sharp when they break, Shadow dear. They could be dangerous so do be careful. Ciao!" He slithered out of the room as a rock broke, showering the door with pebbles. _

_Looking down at her bandaged palm, Shadow saw a precious stone, which were sprinkled in with the rocks and other blunt objects. With a huff, the sappire stone with bubbles fossilized within was pocketed along with a few others. Her eyes slowly inched around the room and out the glass door, top lip crinkling in a small snarl. With a growl, she set out to wreak havoc on another part of the plane. She wanted revenge._

_**End Flashback**_

Alex shook her head sourly at the memory that fizzled into view. She remembered that she was currently in battle and slapped her cheeks to psyche herself back up.

The newly evolved mid-sized reptilian was mostly baby blue with pale yellow accentuations and red clusters of spikes, three on its head, two on its back, and one on its tail. Its jaw was even bigger, with four visible fangs showing from its closed mouth.

Eevee whimpered and her ears drooped in disappointment. "Sorry Isis, I thought Chomp could use the training more than you. Okay?" The eevee gave in and nodded with a foxy grin.

Before the croc had fully become visible, Paul let his hot-tempered grisly bear, AKA ursaring, onto the field. It had a scowl on its harsh face and arms crossed over right above the circle on its tummy. This time Alex couldn't help but burst out with fits of giggles. "What?" Paul growled, taking his cold stance.

"I'm sorry," Alex chuckled, wiping her eyes from tears, "but I couldn't help but notice the resemblance. Like pokemon like trainer, I suppose." She gave him a foxy grin.

Paul glanced from the girl to the fox by her ankles and gave a small smile. _'Got that right.'_

Croconaw gurgled, waddling from foot to foot, making Alex sweat drop at the childishness still bottled in the hyper crocodile. With a sigh and a demanding finger shooting out she said, "Anyhow, it's my turn. Lets start off with water gun, full force."

A big bear paw shot up, making the water disperse in different directions, which mostly meant it landed with a _splat_ on Paul's head. The purplette glowered from under the soaked mop. "Hammer arm," he growled out.

Alex stifled another grin, "Now ice fang, but keep up the water gun."

Ursaring charged through the stream of water with its arms raised and clenched together over its head while the blue liquid continued to bounce off its stomach. But, croconaw's fangs glowed an icy tint and the steady stream slowly became solid until in encased the big bad bear within an ice coffin.

"Arg!" Paul exclaimed at his now frozen pokemon statute.

"Awesome!" Alex cheered. She clasped her hands under her chin, "So pretty," she stated as the sun glistened against the structure.

From with the confines, ursaring blinked, stunned. Then there was a cracking sound, followed by sizzling and the strong scent of smoke fumes. Starting from the top, the ice melted down like an erupting volcano with black smoke tingeing the air. The whites of ursaring's eyes were now lined with red and fire ignited on its back. Once it was freed, it get loose a mighty roar and beat its chest with its fists like Tarzan, then targeted the little monster that had froze it and charged again.

"GAHHH!" Alex and her pokemon shrieked at the raging pokemon as it hurtled with them in sight of its red vision. "What the hell? Ursaring's a normal type, not a fire-type! Run!" Alex darted away, croconaw struggling to do the same as scalding flames scorched the ground. The brunette got to the other side of the field and ducked behind Paul, peeking out to see if she was still being followed. "Hmm," she hummed, watching croconaw running haphazardly around the field with a crazed bear stomping not far behind and gaining fast. She reached around in her backpack after having a lightbulb moment and held something to the purpette's back. "Note to self: Chomp is no longer super fast." She said while writing it in a small notebook.

"Cro-ca-nawww!" the little blue croc wailed as the bear graced a nail across the tip of its tail. It rushed for some kind of safety and pushed its stubby legs faster.

"Oh no," Alex gasped. "No, no, no, no!"

"Ursaring!" Paul snapped, also showing signs of nervousness, but not fazing the bear in the slightest.

"Eh, pokeball…where's the goddamn pokeball?" Alex fumbled with her belt.

"It was in my hand a second ago!" Paul exclaimed as he searched for the same thing.

The grisly caught its prey at last and scooped the croc into its claws, up above its head, and slammed it into the duo of trainers, sending them all tumbling to the ground. For good measure, the bear jumped on the pile a few times then retreated. It pounded its chest in triumph.

"Wow, your ursaring is almost as scary as my charizard." Alex groaned from the bottom of the pile, which was followed with a grunt from Paul as ursaring's pokeball fell from the heavens and hit him smack in the back of the head, rolling down his back and landing near his feet. "You guys are really heavy," she stated to Paul's face, which she realized was very, _very_ close to hers since had turn to get away upon noticing the incoming tackle, and now croconaw was knocked out on top. Both trainers turned rather red and turned their heads away, attempting to squirm their way out of the dog pile without rousing the violent bear.

"And it's a triple knockout! The winner is ursaring!" somebody off to the side cheered using an announcer's voice. As the group looked up, they saw a head of violet and the sparkling of gold.

"Agh," Paul nervously tried with more motivation to move away from the sort of sandwich so he could get as far away from the newcomer as possible. Too bad he was hit by a second pokeball smack in the forehead, which slowly rolled down his face and landed beside the brunette's head.

Alex pulled her arm out from the tangled mess to grab the object with a sheepish smile. "Found the pokeball." With that, some of the pressure was relieved and Paul's back was able to roll off as Alex sat up and clipped the found object on her belt.

"What are you doing here?" Paul demanded, brushing himself off.

The girl pouted. "Paul, why do you _always_ say that when you see me?"

"Because you always show up at the worst times," Paul grumbled in response, snubbing the girl completely while returning his gloating, fire-raging, bigheaded, rioting ursaring into safe confines. His eyes closed as he ignored his slightly older and childish cousin in front him.

"Xena, I heard you were in the hospital. Are you alright?" Alex asked, full of concern unlike the purplette boy. She recalled her marowak as well and allowed eevee to climb into her arms.

"Psh," Xena waved it off without a care, "I'm absolutely, positively fine. But, I'm sorry I can't say the same for…" Xena paused, tears in the corner of her eyes as she gave a sorrowful sniffle. She noticed she had both people's attention now, took a deep breath and continued, "For my poor, innocent juice box!" the girl whined.

"…"

Paul smacked the back of the girl's head as he walked away with an irritated expression.

"Party pooper," Xena shouted after him, increasing the maturity of the statement by sticking out her tongue.

Alex giggled, causing the purplette to smirk at her. Her golden eyes glittered with mischief as Xena locked their arms together and began to skip back into the busy city. "We don't need him," she huffed. Her purple ponytail bounced with each bound and slapped against her black jacket while her combat boots clopped over the cement. "So, what's it like being a super secret agent?" Xena asked, eyes glittered as she eased up on her pace, elbow still linked like a chain around the brunette.

'_She's definitely not as naïve as she acts. She already realizes I'm Alex, even though Paul never introduced us.'_ Alex shook her head. "Not as fun as you think. But are you sure you're okay, I mean, when the medical staff took you away you looked in pretty rough shape."

Xena nodded furiously. "Totally. After that big meanie typhosion destroyed my juice box, making it explode all over me, I was really upset and still _really_ tired because we hadn't slept in like over 24 hours and the ground is actually _so_ much more comfortable than it looks so I'm just like 'hey, I could really use a nap' but I was also really hungry so I asked Paul to get me some peanut butter but I guess I was so tired I just fell asleep. Then when I woke up this morning the doctor said I was free to leave so I did because it smelled like disinfectant and blood which made me feel kinda sick to my tummy yummy, plus they said I couldn't have any peanut butter while I was there because of _allergy reasons_ – stupid excuse – so I was outta there but the nice lady at the resception desk gave me a sucker on my way out and they all looked _so_ good so I snatched them all and ran. And _then_ I went for a nice run around the city because I had a _lot_ of energy and I saw Pauly and Secret Agent Roxy, who was Alex! So, you and Paul, eh?"

The brunette, who had unintentionally zoned the girl out just nodded throughout the entirety of the conversation. She also made a mental note not to _ever_ give the purplette girl sugar or caffeine. She pretty much didn't hear a thing until the last sentence finally registered in her mind, slightly delayed after the girl said it. She frowned and flickered her dark eyes over to Xena. "Wait, what about me and Paul?"

Xena detached their arms to walk backwards in front of the brunette. "You guys are dating, aren't you?" she demanded bluntly, yet still with delight sounding light and cheerful.

"N-no!" Alex said with shock, reaching out and setting the girl straight facing the direction she was walking before she collided with an innocent, inattentive citizen. "Why would you say that?"

"Oh," Xena frowned with heavy disappointment, like she was just told she wasn't going to get the pony she always for her Birthday. "But Paul is so nice to you. He's never like that to anybody else," she stated as though thinking out loud. Her walked slowed even more as she put on her hypothetical thinking cap. "Ooh, lightbulb!" she exclaimed with a snap of her fingers, her energy coming back full force like a boomarang. "I'll just have to get you together. I'll be like a matchmaker! Like Cupid, but without the diaper. And I'd have wings, how cool would that be?"

"Please don't," Alex groaned weakly, knowing pretty well what Xena's response would be before she uttered it.

And she was right, just for the record. The girl scoffed – much the same fashion as the rest of her family – and said, "Now, now, don't get you're panties in a bunch. Some relationships just need a little…push."

'_With that girl it'll be more like a shove off a cliff'_ Alex thought with exasperation.

"And I have the bestest idea too!" the purplette continued.

_'I'm in trouble now. Maybe she won't notice if I quietly slip away…'_

Xena abruptly stopped Alex and held her in place with her gloved hands on her shoulders. There was a dangerous sheen in her rich honey eyes and a conniving grin growing horribly large on her manipulative little face. And right there and then, Alex felt unbelievable fear flood over her.

* * *

Paul began what seemed like an extremely long walk back to the Pokemon Center with his hands stuffed in his pockets, silently pondering what his cousin and Alex were planning on doing. He also wondered what he had done to be tormented by _both_ of the Verboom siblings in the same day. His taller male cousin flanked his side, tensely talking his ear off. By the time the boy had found Paul, it was already dusk and the skyline was highlighted with fluorescent pink and scorching red. It was too late to be flying to another city safely, and he had just been informed that his brunette companion had truly been kidnapped this time…. by his demon cousin. He shuddered at the horror.

On the plus side, the childish young man at his right had managed to get a location so they could pinpoint the captive and her captor. And Paul had a very bad feeling about the whole, ironic situation. But seriously, how difficult could it be to find Alex if she was with his obnoxious cousin?

But should finding her going to be his real concern?

* * *

Hmmmm, I wonder what Xena has hidden up her sleeve? Do we even want to know?

Well, that's it until next time. Read, review, message, I'm so very tired. Bye-bye! Good night.


	26. The Incomprehensible B Word

**Pokémon**

Hiya! How's everybody doing? I feel great since it is now March break, and I got my beginners licence! *Does little happy dance* Ahem, well then, I found this quite amusing to write, so I hope you think so as well. I might (and don't hold me to this) get another chapter up over the break as well. If I'm prompted enough then most deffinately xP I already have it written, it just needs to be checked over a few times. So...yeah.

Thanks to the lovely people that read, favorite, and most of all review! I love you guys; you make me feel happy :)

And enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 26 – The Incomprehensible B word**

Alex was lost in thought as she sat a bench while snacking on a piece of bread with peanut butter slathered healthily onto it, which was the making of the purplette beside her. She had just been told of Xena's devious plan, and despite her trying to set her and Paul up, she was willing to go along with it. Why you ask? Because she was just informed that Paul's Birthday was the following day and she was going to help throw a spectacular surprise party. She _did_ say she would be a better friend, and a party seemed like a good way to start. They were now planning their trip and battle strategy to A) get to Veilstone earlier than Paul, but still get Paul there and B) how to keep Paul out of his own house until they were ready.

"We could take Kite!" Xena offered over-willingly, stuffing her third PB sandwich down her throat and cleaning off the knife with her tongue.

"I am _not_ flying on your flygon _ever_ again," Alex retaliated quickly, shaking her head furiously.

"Aw, why not?"

"Just because," Alex mumbled, "and stop giving me the puppy dog eyes because it's not going to work."

"Fine," sighed Xena dejectedly. "Do _you_ have any flying pokemon?"

"Er…" Alex scratched her head, remembering the inconsolable dragon she had released upon her arrival back in Hearthome, who had refused to do anything for her until she agreed to make him an extra large batch of her special red-hot spicy poffins and an afternoon of sunbathing, plus a battle in the next gym they arrived at (which happened to be the Hearthome but after a humiliating defeat he demanded to be called upon first in Canalave). And since the weather wasn't satisfactory for a charizard and Alex didn't have the right ingredients to make the poffins, it was a dangerous favor to ask. "I'm thinking not at the moment.

"Breee!" eevee chirped innocently, trotting up and jumping on the spare place on the white bench in between the two girls, wagging her bushy brown tail back and forth. She snatched the last corner of bread and spread from her trainer's hands, and tilted her head at the brunette as she frowned at the little fox.

"Aww," Xena cooed at the small pokemon, "so _cute~_!"

Not far behind the fox pranced an elegant, lavender feline, who stopped in front of the black and purple clad girl's feet with the same expression as its prevolution. She casually licked her slender paw and rubbed it against her face, mewling at the duo.

"Aww, double cute…wait a darn second, what did you do?" Alex turned to her partner, shooting the pokemon an accusing glare. "You never turn on the extra cuteness unless you've done something bad."

Xena laughed hysterically, pointing at a group of people running down the street and past them. They all were clutching paint brushes and rollers, wearing light jean overalls and looking like a rainbow just barfed all over them. "I think they went that way," shouted one of them as they charged down an alley, leaving little specs of blue, red and yellow behind them.

"Ahaha, what a silly fashion choice. Let's point and laugh!" exclaimed the purplette, several seconds too late as the group had already disappeared.

Alex glanced between the two troublemakers scornfully, but lackadaisically, as she couldn't help a smirk. She flopped her head over the back of the bench, staring at the puffy cloud shapes leisurely crawling along the misty blue sky. Her ears tuned into the hum of an engine speeding in their direction. Inquisitively, looking for some sort of emergency of predicament, the brunette lifted her neck, expecting to see a blue-haired Officer Jenny whiz past. That was not the case.

Xena's gem-like eye got a cheerful sparkle as a motorcycle pulled to a stop in front of them, and a young man got off, slowly pulling his navy helmet off and shaking his hair out like you always see happen in the movies.

The young man with dark, spiky, slightly unruly purple hair stopped his movement, greeting the two ladies with his metallic yellow eyes on his fair face. His thin pink lips were pulled into a smile as he leaned against the seat of the bike. "Hey," he inclined his head competently, looking directly at Alex while popping the collar of his black leather jacket.

"You've come for me!" Xena enthusiastically yelled, bouncing off her seat as though it were on fire and doing one of those slow motion runs with her arms spread wide like wings.

The attitude of the boy changed immediately, rushing to the girl with the same passion and calling, "Xena, my darling!" ready to catch her in an embrace. Just as they met in the middle, the girl continued past the boy and wrapped her long arms around the body of the bike, causing the boy to continue as well, eyes closed and not expecting to trip on the bench Alex was on and flip over the back.

"My motorcycle. Oh, I missed you so much! Did you miss me?" the girl rubbed her cheek along its sleek, purple side, going so far as to give it a kiss.

"My little sister is so mean to me," cried the man from his withering position on the grass.

Alex peered over the side. "Are you okay?"

The man pounced up leaning against the rear, bent over to rest his arms where Alex had been but had moved before as his face took the spot, with a sly grin on his face. "I am now, my dear flower. Tell me, beautiful, what is your name?"

"Big brother!" whined Xena, pulling herself away from her 'baby' to throw him a pout, "Don't embarrass me in front of my friend."

"Don't worry, any friend of Xena's is a friend of mine!" he waved foolishly towards the girl. "Especially one so pretty. My name's Xavier," he simpered, taking the hand closest to him and laying a kiss on the back of it. He had somehow slithered his way onto the bench next to Alex, sitting quite close to her.

"You're Xena's brother?" Alex blinked at him, noticing eevee glaring and growling at the young man.

"Ah, yes. I have such a lovely little sister, don't I? Isn't she the cutest little thing? I'm so lucky."

"Brother!"

Alex was relieved that her breathing room had been restored as Xavier turned to gaze lovingly at the purplette girl, who was skipping back to join them.

"Brother, I need the keys to my baby," she stated bluntly, holding out her hands in a cupped manner expectantly. She had returned her espeon, the purple kitty, to its pokeball, and grabbed her bag from the foot of the bench as well. And as the jingling objects were plummeted to her awaiting hands, she grinned like a madwoman. "Thank you. Make sure Paul gets to Veilstone City tomorrow, but don't let him come to the house. We'll take turns keeping him busy, and your first on duty. Now go soldier! You have a mission to complete!"

Xavier stood perfectly straight. "Yes, ma'am!" he saluted, marching away.

The girl turned back to Alex, dragging her to her feet and dangling the silver object in her face. "We have found our way there."

"Return, Isis," Alex said, taking the fox into her confines, as she was roughly being manhandled and tossed on the back of the vehicle. A helmet was shoved into her gut as Xena scrambled on in front of her. "Xena, you _do_ have a license for this, right?" the brunette asked hopefully.

The purplette flipped on the ignition and pulled in the clutch. The bike growled like a fierce tiger as she revved the engine confidently. "Nope," Xena replied unconcernedly releasing the clutch and letting the tires spin before they took off, a shriek of fright being left in its wake.

Alex held onto Xena's shoulders with a vice grip, hesitantly peeking at the path ahead of them. They were still increasing their swift pace, having passed the borders of the city minutes ago. To her utmost surprise and relief, the crazy girl was astoundingly good at piloting across the curved dirt road. She maneuvered the machine like a pro, assertively taking on the bends at their hasty speed.

They had left East out of Hearthome City, meaning they would have to also go through Solaceon Town, which would be around the halfway point, before landing in Veilstone City. They would make their destination before nightfall, as long as they didn't run into some sort of dilemma. Xena noted that they would need to refuel the motorcycle when they reached Solaceon since her brother had drove it all the way from Sunnyshore City. So, as they stopped in the small town around mid-afternoon, they paid a visit to the pokemon center for a more proper lunch (Alex's idea) before returning on their straightforward journey.

The area ahead was a specifically rainy part of Sinnoh, much to Xena's pleasure. Water from puddles and mud splashed up on the two girl's rear as the tires sped over the soggy terrain. Alex was even pretty sure they drenched a few unlucky travelers as the purplette skidded into her turns.

Alex thanked everything she could think of that Xena was an extremely good driver and didn't come in a fraction close of crashing them. She had been scared stiff for the first half of the ride, especially since the driver didn't seem to have any cares in the world about speed limits, but apparently it was a controllable pace. The brunette got of the machine as her companion turned the engine off, and shook her hair free as a light drizzle fell from the clouds.

She recognized the house instantly as Reggie's, with the fence in the back holding in all sorts of pokemon. Following Xena, the two made their way to the door. While Alex had a notion to knock first, Xena strutted right in as if she owned the place, leaving the soaked brunette out on the doorstep, wondering what she should do. Finally, she gave in and did the same as the other girl, closing the door subtly behind her.

Her black running shoes, the mud having been washed away with the rain and now were just heavy and waterlogged, making them slosh with each step, were disposed of along with her ankle socks at the doormat with a pair of black combat boots. The brunette felt really rather bad that she was dripping everywhere, but tracked the faint voices to the kitchen where a distraught purplette man was fussing over his sopping wet cousin before turning and seeing her, the second victim.

"Alex too?" he asked hysterically, watching her as she let loose a light sneeze. "You two, go upstairs to the guest room and change this instant before you catch a cold. I'll make a cup of tea." The darker-haired man shooed the girls out of the kitchen as he moved to the sink to put some water on to boil.

Alex clambered up the narrow, carpet-clad steps and into a room with a double bed, a desk, a window looking over to the mountains, and a door leading to the bathroom. She shrugged off her bag, hoping severely that her clothes hadn't fallen prey of the downpour. She recovered a dry pair of pajamas – a lime green tank top and darker, baggy pants – and changed in the room while Xena bolted into the bathroom chanting, "I have to pee, I have to pee!" repeatedly. Throwing her probably disastrous hair into a messy, loose bun, she hopped back down to the kitchen with her eevee hanging off her folded arms.

"Thank you, Reggie," Alex smiled as she found the boy seated in the living room on a leather couch. Two steaming cups of tan liquid were set up on the glass table in front of him, a third in his hand. "And sorry for the intrusion," she added, taking the place on the other end of the furniture, daintily taking a sip of the warm drink and giving a shiver as it warmed her insides.

The young man gave her a carefree laugh. "It's no trouble. Besides, I know Xena and what she's like. You likely didn't have much of a choice." He patted her damp head with a smile on his face. "Anyway, it's good to see you again. And I'm rather scared to ask but where's my little brother?"

"In Hearthome City," Alex replied with a shake of her head. "Xena and I are planning to throw him a Birthday party, so we need to keep him out of the house until we get it ready. Xena told Xavier to bring him here tomorrow, but make sure he stays out of the house until we're ready for him."

"Sounds like fun," Reggie nodded happily. "I'll help in any way I can."

"Reggie! Do you have any peanut butter?" bellowed a voice from the next room.

Alex giggled while Reggie rolled his onyx eyes good-naturedly and set his teacup down to aid the girl in her search. When she had drained her cup completely not many minutes later, she bid goodnight to the family and retired to the guest room with her already sleeping eevee next to her on the pillow.

* * *

"Hmmm." The purplette knit her brows, squinting at the contents of a small black box. "I don't get it." She pursed her lips, placing her hands on her hips and leaning to the right, making her low ponytail dangle off the side of her head.

"Well," Alex drawled doubtfully, running her index finger down the column of brown, stained, worn pieces of paper all placed in alphabetical order. "What kind should we make?"

"…Chocolate?"

"…Does Paul like chocolate?"

"Who doesn't like chocolate?"

"Well, Paul doesn't seem like the person to have a huge sweet tooth," Alex answered speculatively.

Right after breakfast, at the crack of dawn (which, for them, happened to be about 10:30am) Xena and Alex stood in the rather spacious kitchen with their long hair tied back, aprons hanging off their fronts with their pajamas showing underneath, and staring at a little black box labeled _Family Recipes_. Reggie said he was going out to buy a present for Paul and some decorations after Xena insisted that she and Alex would take care of the cake and decorating. Xena was twiddling with a whisk between her fingers and a big, white chef's hat on her head as she stared at the box like it was some odd, alien contraption, while Alex didn't really know where to start.

"Let's see, carrot cake, devil's food cake, German chocolate cake, chocolate cake…what the hell's the difference?"

"I've never heard of German chocolate…" Xena said perplexedly, as if questioning everything she knew. "Wouldn't it be hard to get Devil's food?"

Alex shrugged thoughtfully and continued, "Black forest cake – mmm, sounds yummy – Molten chocolate cake, Nanny's special double fudge cake… Aunties Ding Dong cake…?" She glanced inquisitively to the girl, who shrugged unknowingly. "Ummm, vanilla bund-t cake-"

"You mean burnt cake?"

"Why would anybody want burnt cake?" Alex demanded rhetorically to the card and the girl.

Xena read it over Alex's shoulder and made a confused noise. "Who wants a bunnn-d-t cake?" she debated back, sounding out the word.

"Good point. 'K, moving on. Coffee cake – mmm – Granny's homemade fruitcake, fishcakes – uh, ewwww – gingerbread – what's that doing with the cakes? – Lemon cake, marble cake, moon cake – oh my…" Alex's head fell to the table top with a resounding _smack_, the papers fluttering down beside her.

It was silent for a few minutes. "Wanna make the vanilla one and leave off the bunnn-d-t?" Xena finally asked, having trouble pronouncing the word.

"Sureeee," groaned Alex, peeling her bemused face from the table slowly and picking up the card. "First, we need a large mixing bowl."

The duo looked at each other, and then to the kitchen was rather large as was said before. Alex stood from the table and both cocked their heads at the room with searching expressions. "Where would a mixing bowl be?"

"Let's try the cupboards," suggested the brunette. So the quest commenced of opening and closing the small doors, occasionally scrambling onto the counter if they needed one higher up.

Finally, Xena yelled, "Found one!" from her standing position on the counter. She produced a large, silver bowl from the darkness within with a childish grin as she jumped off the counter, forgetting the ceiling was only a few inches above and hitting the top of her head. She yelped, landing on her butt with a large pout and watery eyes. "Ow-chie." The bowl crashed to the floor and vibrated like cymbals.

Alex picked up the ringing utensil and blew on it to get rid of any stray dust as Xena picked herself off the floor. "Now we need four, sugar, milk, eggs, oil, baking powder, and vanilla."

"Arg," Xena grunted, "this is going to take _forever_!"

Neither of the girls were particularly experienced cookers, Alex usually only baking for her pokemon and just warming things up that Mrs. Ketchum had brought over for her and her brother when they were little, and Xena…well, Xena had her peanut butter and bread. Regarless, they scoured the kitchen high and low, eventually finding the ingredients and measuring utensils and covered the counter space with their tools.

"Now what?" Xena asked the recipe holder exhaustedly, looking stingily at the mess.

"We…mix together the dry ingredients." Alex responded dismally, reading the card. "Do you want to, or shall I?"

"We both will, of course!" the now chipper purplette cheered, a newfound energy pushing her ahead. "I mean, it's just a cake. How hard can it be now that we've found everything?"

"That's true," Alex nodded logically, agreeing and picking up the sugar and dumping the required amount in, sticking a spoonful into her mouth for good measure. After Xena put the flour in, she added a few teaspoons of baking powder in and stepped to the right to lean over the card. Pulling the sugar free spoon out of her mouth, she said, "Now we mix it, I guess."

"We can use the electric beaters, then it will be mixed faster," Xena said, staring at her newfound friend, plugged in and ready to go. She held it up like a gun ready to shoot, flicking it on and of so it would give a loud _vrrumm, vrrumm, vrrummm_.

"Mhmm, go for it," Alex waved her off distractedly, mumbling under her breath, "What the hell is a bundt _pan_?"

Suddenly the noise of the beaters roared to life, and a _poof_ as Alex turned around to watch. She blinked owlishly as Xena cursed and coughed. The buzzing stopped a moment later.

The entire kitchen looked like a winter wonderland with freshly fallen snow in every crevice. Xena's golden eyes were wide, and her lips were in the shape of an 'O' while everything from her waist up was pure white powder clinging to her skin. Alex, who was only about a meter away, looked about the same, perhaps more peppered than completely coated.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea," stated Alex, trying to shake some of the residue off, creating a dust cloud and sputtering the white dust with each word.

Xena began to laugh. "You look like the Pillsbury dough boy." She tried wiping at her face without much headway.

Sighing, the brunette said, "Let's start again, _no mixers_ this time."

Xena bobbed her head up and down with a grin as it began to snow in the room again.

Alex sneezed lightly as both girls put in each ingredient again, stirring sluggishly slow and fearfully as if the concoction was a ticking time bomb, and then adding the liquids.

"Whose going to crack the eggs?" she asked, glaring at the four, dusted objects with disdain.

"I'll do two and you'll do two," Xena explained, plucking them from the carton and handing two to her ashen friend. She flounced over to a knife holder and unsheathed the biggest, sharpest one there with a gleam in her eyes. "Eggies, you are going down," she cackled evilly.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Alex repeated horrendously. Gently, she took the knife away from the smirking girl and tossed it incautiously somewhere behind her, out of Xena's eyesight.

They got the eggs cracked…and the shells out of the batter eventually, and Xena put her whisk to use, nearly beating it to a pulp and speckled anything nearby with the cream batter. Alex found a _normal_ pan for their cake, and poured the batter in and putting it in the oven. After the deed was done, they collapsed to the floor.

"Damn, stupid, evil little cake…" Xena mumbled curses towards the oven, and Alex patted her head consolingly.

The kitchen door was thrown open by a panting and sweaty purplette. He directly flashed over to his sister, now looking completely fine as he sang, "My little sister, whatever is the matter? Big brother will fix it for you! …Why is there flour all over you?"

Xena continued her mutterings with even more fervor as if the male wasn't here.

"Xavier!" Alex exclaimed, bolting up.

"Yes, my darling?" He grasped her hand.

"If you're here then Paul's here too. Why aren't you with Paul?"

"Oh," Xavier grimaced, "he got really annoyed at me for some reason and was coming back to the house, so I had to stop him but I made him _really_ angry so I ran back here to tell you two."

Xena smirked evilly. "What did you do to little cus?"

"Well, when I tried to stop him and tell him to stop, he wouldn't listen and I got nervous so… I kind of stole his pokeballs and threw them into the bushes a little piece away," he uneasily explained while rubbing the back of his neck. "Never knew he could look so murderous," he whispered to himself.

"So that means that nobody's with him to prevent him from coming to the house?" The two siblings shrugged and nodded in an 'I-guess-so' way. With a slew of profanities, Alex scuttled and tripped up the stairs, crashed about the room for a few seconds before she was back and barreling out the door, shouting back, "I'm on it!"

The brunette jogged along the streets with her big brown eyes on the lookout for the purplette. Accompanying her was the little riolu, Aura, sitting on her shoulder serenely. It didn't take long to find a fuming purplette with a black, icy gaze stomping through the road, and she promptly ignored his irritated glare and bowled into him with a hug, nearly knocking them both off their feet.

Paul was not a very happy camper. He was emitting waves of darkness, he was sure, and began to shoot a mental dagger as he heard the rushed footsteps of what he believed to be his infuriating cousin. It most certainly was not him. His eyes widened as he was forced back by the pressure of another body and a whirl of brown hair. His hands flew out of his pockets and held onto the person unwillingly and righted them both as a flustered brunette grinned at him. He let her go, since they were no longer threatening to fall.

"Hey, Paul!" Alex gasped, not meaning to use as much force as she had. Clasping his arm in hers, she turned him in the opposite direction and walked back into town.

"Hi," he replied uncertainly. "What are you doing? I was going back to the house," he informed her, tossing his head back in the other way.

"Yeah, well, I'm running away from the house. Xena is there," she said, quite honestly. "And now, so is Xavier."

"Yeah, well I'm looking for Xavier," Paul grumbled, throwing a look over his shoulder, also somewhat relieved that the purplette hadn't been lying when he said Alex and Xena were heading for Veilstone City. "But if Xena's there…"

"Come on, let's have some lunch," Alex spontaneously decided, unintentionally sounding quite exasperated. Keeping Paul preoccupied might be more of a troublesome task than it seemed when it was pushed onto somebody else. So without giving the boy a moment to retaliate, she pulled him into a small little café on the side of the road, hoping that the siblings wouldn't do anything too drastic without the presence of herself or Reggie…

Well, hopefully Reggie would get back before the house got destroyed.

* * *

I'm throwing a Birthday Party for Paul! :D

Paul: *Grumbles* I don't _want_ a party.

Aha, well that's just too f*cking bad xP Love ya, Paul~y. Anyway, if you have any ideas on how to make Paul's Birthday super-fantabulous, then leave a comment or send me a note! And in case you don't read the memo at the top, reviews might get you a chapter within the week! Doesn't that sound exciting?

Okay, so the super secret agent Alex is all mine, as is Ryan, but the crazy, amazing Xena and her flirtatious brother Xavier are the creation of the awesome **Crimson. light. of. Death** ! A round of applause, if you please.

And that's all for this afternoon folks. Remember, reviews are loved very much. So I'll see you next time!


	27. The Fantabulous Birthday

**Pokémon**

So, I have been trying to post this thing since _Saturday_ and for some dumb reason it wouldn't let me. _*Glares* _As I understand it, a lot of people have been having problems. But I know how to get around it, if you're one of these poor annoyed people. If you want to know, message there goes my super early chapter :'(

Anyway, I thought this was rather cute, so I hope you think so as well. I'm trying not to let Paul get too OOC, but he's just so dang cute... and he's so different from his family xP Gotta love Xena.

Also, somebody reviewed that they were unsure of where this story was going. I'm trying to make sure that Alex and Paul's journey to collect badges and stuff doesn't just abruptly halt while I stick my plot in there, so I'm trying to balance it. So it's like a little bit of Shadow and the Soul Salvation, then returning to (somewhat) normal life and their journey. Plus, I'm trying to add a little humor (not sure if that's a fail or not). I hope that clears it up for everybody.

BTW, I got pokemon the black version earlier last week. Lovin it! Anybody else?

And I really do appreciate hearing from you and seeing people favorite the story, so I thank you a bunch. And I hope you like the new chapter!

**Chapter # 27 – The Fantabulous Birthday**

The brunette girl leaned back in her cushiony booth, relaxing a bit now that she and the purplette were now seated and he didn't seem to be thinking about pursuing his cousin back to his house at the moment. He appeared more comfortable, staring at her across the table with scrutinizing onyx orbs. Nonetheless, eevee was set up on the table next to the wall, ready to pounce if he tried to make a run for it.

"What's in your hair?" he asked finally after staring for a while.

"Hm…?" Alex quickly ran her fingers down the sides of her hair. Sure enough, white dust floated into the air and into her fingers on one side. "…oh, uh, there was a bit of a mishap at breakfast. Must not have gotten all of it from my hair," she giggled timidly.

In her rush to get out of the house and intercept Paul in his path, Alex only managed to quickly run a brush through her painted white locks, throw on the nearest clothes that were strewn all over the place, grab some money and book it out the door. So now, she was clad in a short, pleated mahogany skirt and a modest, tan v-neck tank top with thick, forest green seams and matching emerald flip-flops (all courtesy of Xena).

The weather had turned out nice after the rainstorm the night before, and the radiant sun dried up the damp air. All of Veilstone seemed to be compelled to get out of the house with such beautiful weather, as the streets were busier and the little café was bustling more than usual.

"So," Alex broke the silence that had fallen upon them, thinking of subjects to talk about that wouldn't set off a temper fuse for either of them, "Did you get a badge from Fantina?"

Paul scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. "Of course I did."

"Awesome!" Alex beamed. "I think Canalave City would be our next best bet. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, well, it's going to be a long flight to get there form here. We would have been better off leaving from Hearthome."

"Oh Paul, your such a fuddy duddy. Plus I have to strike a deal with my dragon or we'll have to take the blimp that goes from Jubilife to Canalave." Alex explained thoughtfully. Their meals arrived and she dipped her French-fry into some ketchup and popped it into her mouth. "But still, if we want to get to Jubilife we'll need to fly too, so we'll have to go shopping after this and hope that it'll stay this sunny for the rest of the day."

The purplette quirked a brow at her. "Why are you making a deal with your dragon? It's your pokemon; just tell it to fly you somewhere," he stated as if it was the natural solution that even the most dim-witted person should be able to come up with.

"Hotshot may be one of my loyal friends, but he still _is_ a charizard with a fiery temper. We have a mutual understanding that I, as his trainer, need to understand," the brunette replied just as certainly.

Again, Paul had to mentally question several of her choices of words, the most being _friend_. He quietly ate his food while pondering over the girl, finally saying, "That's just ridiculous."

"And you're a stuck-up ass," she said with a grin creeping onto her lips, not daring to look up at the boy. "You remind me a lot of Gary when we were little. Well, except he was a cocky, stuck-up ass, and he talked a lot more. And those goddamn_ cheerleaders_!" Alex shivered at the atrocious memories. "Anyway, my pokemon are my friends. We go through almost everything together and we have each other's backs. That's my opinion, and you have your own so I'm not going to try and argue with you."

Paul just stared at Alex for another minute. "Cheerleaders?" he asked with perturbed look.

The girl cringed and nodded. "Don't even get me started."

After lunch, Alex took Paul's arm again and pulled him along the streets of his hometown. She stopped at some various stands that occupied the edges, one specifically that carried almost every type of berry imaginable. There she picked out quite a few ripe Cheri berries – which were very small, soft, red berries with coiled vines still attached – and a couple of Tamato berries – which were soft, plump and red with spike-like bumps all over. She thanked the vendor and moved on down the road.

"'Kay, now I need some hot sauce," Alex noted, counting the berries in her bag.

Paul shook his head. "There's a grocery store just down the road."

"Goodie! Let's go," Alex alleged, letting the purplette lead her through the crowds since he knew where he was going. They walked in the sliding glass doors and wandered down different aisles, searching for the tiny bottle for a long while, as it seemed to be hiding.

Suddenly, something caught Alex's brown eyes, and thankfully she was the only one of them to notice. "Uh… I don't think it's this way. Come on, let's try over there." The girl suggested out of the blue, turning her companion around by his shoulders and nudging him along from behind as she cast an anxious glance back towards Reggie, who was at the end of the row with wide eyes as well, arms full of colorful decorations. He gave the girl a thumbs-up and a smile, and left in a rush for the checkout.

"You're weird," said Paul monotonously, as he moved to the side to see what the girl was doing, making her lose her footing and stumble forward, catching herself on a nearby shelf. He took her hand let a little vile filled with orange-red liquid fall into her palm. He smirked as she blinked owlishly at it, then at him.

"When did you pick this up?" she demanded, holding the bottle so close that he would have gone cross-eyed if he were to try and look at it.

The purplette shrugged uncaringly, dipping his hands once again into his pockets. "They were next to the door when we walked in."

Alex sweatdropped. "Seriously?" she asked weakly with a sigh. _'Maybe I _should_ work on my observing skills. Hey wait a minute,'_ "If you knew where it was then why didn't you tell me?"

Shrugging once again, a smirk still on his lips, he said, "I was waiting to see how long it was going to take for you to realize, idiot."

Steam snorted from the brunette's nose as her eyes slit into thin lines and her face turned the same shade as the bottle. "Humph," she snuffed, tossing her brown hair over her shoulder and strutting away, not dignifying the boy with a response. Well, that and she couldn't come up with one, not that she'd let him know that. If she had been looking, she would have noticed the smile that appeared on the purplette's face for a brief moment as he followed her to the checkout, along with a brown fox that he helped by picking up the ice cream container she was dragging with difficulty. In turn, the fox leapt onto his shoulder and gave him a cheerful 'thanks' lick on the cheek as her trainer paid for it. "Traitor," Alex mumbled to the pokemon as she stomped out of the store ahead of the others, half smiling herself.

Alex managed to stealthily get lost within the sea of people, sufficiently getting Paul off her tail so she could get back to the house. Her bags brushed against her legs as she moved along swiftly so she didn't get caught. Shifting her purchases into one hand, she turned the handle of the door and slipped into the house to the sound of _"Ouch…ouch…ouch…OUCH! Goddamn it, that __hurt__!"_

Peeking into the living room, the brunette found the source of the noise: the two siblings. Both had tape stuck to nearly every visible piece of skin, little chucks of wrapping paper here and there, marker ink on their hands, arms and faces, glitter sparkling in the light, a random bow in places, and two small, wrapped gifts and cards neatly in the middle. Reggie was in the process of ripping the material off their bodies as Alex marched in with a bursting laugh threatening to break loose.

"Ow, Reggie!" Xena whined, rubbing the top of her skull where the last bow had been ripped off. Her golden eyes flickered to Alex with an upbeat smile. "How was your date with Paul?"

That wiped the smirk off her face straight away. She pursed her lips with a glare. "It _wasn't_ a date," she defiantly contradicted. "Now it's your turn."

Xena squealed happily, springing up the stairs and leaping back down, now out of her pajama's, hair neatly back in its low ponytail, and a childish smile still adorning her lips. "I get to spend time with Paul-y~" she sang as she impatiently hopped up and down. Her houndoom soon flanked her side as well.

"Yupp!" _'Poor Paul,'_ Alex thought, positioning the fidgeting purplette in front of the main door. "Now stand right here until Paul comes, alright?" Alex patted her head and hid around the corner of another room to watch. _'Not only am I releasing the insane one on him, but with her tracking dog out he'll never get away.'_ Slowly, a spiteful smile spread across the brunettes face, a similar one on the delinquent fox at her ankles.

The sound of footsteps approached the door. The brass handle turned slowly, and with a thrust it burst wide open. Paul blinked. He wasn't actually scowling, or at least he wasn't at first. The first thing he noticed was that there was somebody greeting him at the door, even though he didn't knock (it was his house, after all). He saw the familiar, wavy purple hair and glowing golden eyes next, then heard the panting of the pure black hound reaching the girl's hips. After another blink, he abruptly turned on his heel and cautiously, as though he hadn't already been seen, walked away.

"Paul-y! Where're ya going?" the boisterous girl chirped loud enough to alert anybody in the immediate area of the oncoming game of hide and seek so they could get out of the way of the cursing Paul speed-walking out of sight and girl and her pooch skipping along giddily in his path.

"Hn," Alex locked the door and flipped her hair over her shoulder over her shoulder once again. "And that's what you get when you call me an idiot." Upon turning, she ran into a solid object. _'Funny, I don't remember there being a wall…'_ She would recognize those matching golden eyes. "Oh shit," she said under her breath.

"Hello there again, love." The boy grinned.

"…" Alex took an unsettled step back. With an unexpected smile, she said a merry "hello" and reached out her hand and ripped a strip of tape up from his cheek to his sideburns and walked away after he grimaced, stepped back, tripped over Xena's present, and fell directly into the accumulated pile of tape that had already been torn off.

"How sweet of you to get that off for me," Xavier feebly said with pain leaking through his voice as he lifted his head, then collapsed back down in exhaustion.

Now back in the kitchen, Alex pulled out her ingredients, a pot and a spoon, plus another spoon that stayed lodged in the container of chocolate ice cream that her eevee snuck into her purchases. So while the girl worked eevee, riolu and marowak sat in a triangle in the middle of the floor with the bucket in the center, charizard and houndoom took a nap in the sun and the shade respectably, and croconaw sat on its bottom and splashed in the shallow of the pond like a toddler.

The red berries were finely chopped and de-vined, nearly sizzling they were so hot, and fell with a plop into the pot with the cold water and the heat was turned up full blast. Next, it was sloshed with a few drizzles of hot sauce, and sprinkled with chili powder. She made sure to use a metal spoon, as the wooden ones, she had discovered long ago, happened to be hazardous with this specific recipe, and stirred it slowly, also being careful not to let it spill. A spicy aroma filled the room with rosy smoke puffing up in little ringlets. "Oh, looks like they're done," Alex chirped, slipping an oven mitt on to her already gloved hand for extra caution, keeping the pot a good distance from her body as she poured the thick, bubbling crimson liquid in a half a dozen molds and waited for let them set at the back of the counter while she went to see how the decorating was going.

As she walked into the living room this time, Reggie was putting the finishing touches on the hanging purple banner in the entrance archway with a bouquet of balloons pinned to each end. On the couch sat a huffing Xavier, irritably knotting the end of another balloon while it gave a _sqee-eeeek-ek_ sound until it was fastened securely and flicked it over his shoulder where a rainbow of them littered the entire floor space, only to have it stick to his thumb and go with a _pop!_ as he flicked it harder.

"That is a crap load of balloons," Alex said as she shuffled over to Reggie.

He shrugged apathetically, replying, "But it does keep him busy."

"Who knows, maybe he'll pass out after a few more." The brunette watched as Xavier yet again puffed out his cheeks and created a black balloon. "Anyway, could you frost the cake? But watch out for my cooling poffins, they have somewhat of a pungent smell that can make you rather light-headed if your not used to it."

"Sure thing."

There was a soft _thud_ and a loud snore from behind the sofa as Xavier fell asleep from exhaustion. He snuggled up to a purple balloon that had just previously been blown up, flopped over still in a seated position on his side.

"That works," Alex mumbled as she began to hang the decorations everywhere. The corners were filled, and streamers all looped down from a grand balloon chandelier in the center of the ceiling. Stepping down off the ladder to examine her work, Alex nodded in appreciation and cracked the bones in her back with a stretch.

"I should probably go get Paul a Birthday present," the brunette thought aloud. "I wonder what he'd like…"

So Alex set off once again after claiming her bag from the guest room upstairs. The street crowds were beginning to thin as it drew near suppertime and it was much easier to navigate and window shop. "I just don't know what to get," Alex mumbled to herself, tugging lightly on her hair as she passed another few shops. But with the sun beginning to droop lower in the sky, she made a quick decision and headed back to the house with her bag of items.

Why was it that every time she walked into that house somebody was yelling? The brunette followed the distressed calls to the kitchen, and curiously peeped her head through. With a sigh, she fully materialized into the room and shook her head.

Xavier was in tears, head held under the sink and allowing an icy jet of water to overflow from his mouth. His fair skin looked like it had been stained with beet juice, and a faint cloud of steam could just be seen swelling out of his ears, nose, and even a bit from his cherry red lips.

"My poffins are done!" Alex exclaimed, dropping her parcel, sidestepping around the gurgling young man to poke the treats to make sure they were hardened to a satisfactory state.

"Phew," Xavier wheezed, wiping off his brow, "that's one hell of a way to wake up from a nap." He shot a glare at the other boy in the house while breathing deeply through his mouth to cool it off.

"Reggie," Alex reprimanded with a smirk and a taken aback glance. She didn't know that even the supposed nice brother could be so cruel.

With a bright, joyful smile, Reggie ran his hands down his apron. "Well, he was supposed to be helping. And he was _drooling_ on my sofa cushions."

"Pretty little Alex can kiss it and make everything better!" Xavier sang, swooping in towards Alex, which was interrupted with a shrill sob and a "Whyyyy?" from the doorway. "Xena, my precious little sister, what's the matter? Big brother will make it better, he promises!"

"Pauly ran away from me," the girl pouted, ignoring her brother and jumping over the back of the sofa.

Alex perked up. "Are we ready for him yet?" she asked, scooping up her package that still needed to be wrapped when Paul was distracted with the party. Reggie answered with a nod while Xavier consoled a pouting Xena. "Xena, where'd you leave Paul?"

The happy aura shot back to the purplette girl as she explained, "Well, I spent about an hour just to catch him – he's gotten really sneaky since we were little; it only used to take me under ten minutes! Anyway, then I was tired and I wanted him to give me a piggyback ride but he kept pushing me off and mumbling something about having the 'weirdest and most annoying family in the world' and how that 'damn brunette' was going to pay. He was pretty grumpy so I decided that since it was his Birthday it was my duty to make him happy." There was a slight pause as Xena gasped air into her depleted lungs because, amazingly, she had said that all in one go of breath. She began to giggle with a childish smirk on her face. "Hehe, I said duty."

"He's plotting against me?" Alex whispered with a horrified expression, quickly back stepping so she was protected by Reggie.

Reggie smiled at the brunette from the corner of his eye. Turning back to Xena, who was pushing her affectionate brother away and running around like she was on a sugar high. "So, where's Paul?" he asked the distracted girl.

Xena stopped her bouncing movement and grinned. "I have no idea!"

Everybody fell to the ground.

"What are you _doing_?" demanded a voice. In all the commotion, nobody had heard the person in question enter the house and stumble upon the comical scene. He stood apathetically in the archway, arms crossed as his dark eyes observed each person's position carefully, slight amusement evident on his features. He arched a brow at the last one, a particular brunette hiding behind his beaming brother.

"Eep!" Alex squeaked, bolting up the stairs. The door slammed. It reopened only several seconds later as she calmly pranced back down as though nothing had happened with a wrapped box finished with a bow and smiled. "Happy Birthday, Paul!"

"Happy Birthday!" the others followed her example, each beaming. Xena tried to waltz over and smother him with a hug, while the flirtatious Xavier attempted the same on Alex. Alex simply moved behind Reggie again, but as he followed she ended up running around and around the room from the boy's outstretched arms, while Paul had an easier time just flicking his cousin on the forehead and watching as she collapsed to the floor and chanted "Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!"

As Xavier went to the aid of his sister, Alex skidded to a halt next to Paul, panting as she leant on him for support. She noticed his smirk of revenge and shivered. "Let's open presents!" she exclaimed to take the unwanted attention away. It worked as hopped up and exclaimed "Mine first," and bounded for the couch.

Paul begrudgingly opened the presents on the table in front of him, wishing that his family could have forgotten his Birthday and left him alone like usual. Xena had got him a jumbo sized jar of peanut butter, hoping he would share. Xavier got him a book, which on closer inspection, was an anger management book called _Just Smile_. He put it to good use, throwing it at the boy's head, which ironically _did_ bring a small smirk to his face. Reggie got him what any parental figure would, money, a new, gray knapsack since his old one was starting to look worn, and another purple tracksuit with a black tee. Finally he came upon Alex's. He opened it look in the box with large eyes. "What is all this?" he grumbled.

"I've been traveling with you for a while, and you use a _lot_ of pokeballs, and I've gathered a lot over my journey's that I hardly use at all so there you have 5 regular pokeballs, greatballs, ultraballs, duskballs, levelballs, netballs, diveballs, lureballs, heavyballs, fastballs, luxuryballs, premierballs, repeatballs, timerballs, and quickballs."

"Damn, that's a lot of balls," Xena muttered, grinning cheekily as she and her brother laughed. Even Reggie covered a chuckled with a sad cough.

"And there's some potions in there too," Alex added thoughtfully. Basically, it was like raided the entire pokemart. "Oh, and this!" She picked up a small box from within the clutter and delicately danged a golden chain from within, an ursauring figure with crossed arms shining from the end. Its eyes were multicolored gems, which she soon explained, "It's a mood necklace. Its eyes change color depending on your mood. Isn't it cute?"

Paul stared at her for a moment, but had to look away. "Whatever." He gently took the bear out of her hands and cupped in it his palm.

"Now that that's done, who wants cake?" Xena exclaimed in her extreme sugar-high, hoisting her lovely sharp knife that she had found yet again above her head.

"NO!"

_Slice_

_BOOM!_

The purple-haired girl went wide-eyed and dropped the knife in fright.

Paul glared at the girl for her loud disruption, as Alex cried. "My balloon chandelier! I spent my whole afternoon on that!"

Xena stared up at the dead, limp balloons gloomily hanging from the ceiling, pieces fluttering to the floor. With a shrug she smiled. "Woopsie! Sorry, Reggie! Hey, where are you taking my knife? Give it back! Reggie!" She chased the boy out of the room, Xavier following, calling out that it was dangerous to run with sharp objects to his cousin. Alex, hearing this, ran to restrain the girl before she got it back, knowing her brother would probably give it back to her if she asked.

Xena finally got her big knife. Alex didn't want to have another conversation about this to the girl again, especially since the purplette seemed to find it after she chucked it to who-knows-where, and none of them really wanted to get that close to the weapon-wielding girl. "Paul~y! You're the Birthday boy so how big of a piece to you want?" Her ponytail swished back and forth as she rapidly looked between her cousin and the cake, the knife poised close to her face with bright, malevolent eyes and a creepy grin like a serial killer.

Paul unzipped his sweater and threw it over the back of a chair seated at the table. He was left in a black t-shirt and his regular purple pants with matching socks. Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose from the shouting voice, he sighed out, "Two slices."

"Oooh," Xena clasped her hands together the best she could, nearly sending the sharp object in her hands whizzing across the room. "I knew you would love the burnt cake cousin Xena and Alex made especially for you!" she shouted her obvious approval, slamming down the knife with a sure movement and made a clean slice down the dessert.

"Uh…burnt cake?" said Reggie skeptically, shifting his inquisitive eyes away from Paul appallingly to the cake.

"No," Alex assured immediately, waving her armed in front of her. "It's just, eh, don't ask," she sighed pitifully.

Paul walked over and accepted a piece of vanilla cake with white frosting on top and purple sprinkles on a paper plate in each hand. His head lowered, shadowing everything but his lips, which pulled up on one side in a smirk. Without warning, one hand thrust one of the plates and its contents into the absolutely beaming girl's face and smushed it in a semi circle before dropping it. "That is for torturing me all afternoon."

The plate slowly unattached itself from Xena's face leaving a spongy residue and fluffy white frosting behind. You could her lips pulled into an 'O' shape as she stood flabbergasted, with the knife she was holding clattering to the floor.

Turning on his heel, the brunette was just in distance to reach out and repeat the process with the second plate. "That is for disappearing _and_ for making sure I was tortured all afternoon."

Alex gawked and brought her hands up and carved her eyes out so she could see. She promptly wiped one down Paul cheek, making him frown and step back out of reach.

Paul harrumphed and walked over to the sink to clean off his hands and face from the pathetic 'counter attack'. He had expected more of a comeback from the feisty brunette, and a good yell paired with a threat, while his cousin experimentally took some cake from her face onto her finger and stuck it in her mouth. As he turned the tap off and dried his hands and cheek, he turned to feel a strange sensation. Like something was sliding down his face. She didn't…

"That's the last time _I_ ever take the time to make _you_ a cake." Alex puffed out her cheeks in agitation and clapped her hands clean. After Paul had turned his back on her, the brunette had quietly snuck passed Xena, took the entire remains of the cake and dumped them on Paul head as he faced her. She smiled sweetly at him. "Happy fucking Birthday, jerk."

A low growl bubbled up from the glaring purplette's throat. His purple hair was matted down with sticky white gunk and dripping off his face, arms and clinging to his shirt.

"Eek! Reggie, Paul's going to hit me!" Alex shrieked as she took off out of the kitchen, a mad, cake-dripping Paul stumbled out after her as the girl evaded his near capture attempts.

Xavier snapped pictures each time the two passed. Luckily, Reggie had anticipated a cake disaster and bought one from the grocery store, but decided against candles with the hazardous group of teens around, and served it while waiting for the Birthday boy and the shrieking girl to return.

Paul eventually caught Alex, and tackled her to the ground outside the guest bedroom. He successfully smothered her with cake since he was drenched with it, and pinned her to the floor with her hands pinned by her head.

She struggled against him, lashing out her legs and whipping her head back and forth non-compliantly. After realizing that Paul was heavier and stronger than she, and he had locked her legs with his own, she groaned. Puffing her bangs out of her eyes, she leered up at him and went limp in defeat. "Get off," she frigidly murmured.

The purplette snarled, reflexively drifting closer to the brunette. His bangs brushed her forehead as their eyes bore unwaveringly into the others, neither relenting nor willing to lose. Both of their faces were cracking like a facemask with the cake and frosting drying as they scowled at each other. They didn't even realize how close they were.

"Alex! Paul! What's going on? Why'd it go quiet?" Reggie anxiously called up the stairwell, nervous that somebody was hurt.

As if awakened, the two blinked and tensed as their surroundings kicked in. They noticed that they were still covered in a sugary substance, Paul was sitting on Alex's hips, and they were about an inch away from each other's faces, and blushed on cue.

Before the flustered girl knew what happened, she noticed her appendages could move again and sat up to watch Paul hurriedly retreat down the hallway and wordlessly close his door. Before he did, she caught the sheen of gold around his neck: her necklace.

Clearing her throat, she called back, "W-we're just freshening up," and mentally cursed as her voice cracked. Standing, she glared at the door that had just been closed and maturely stuck her tongue out at it before waltzing into her and Xena's messy room, trying hard not to drip on anything as she took a cooling-off shower.

Honestly, she wasn't sure if it was more eventful and chaotic with Paul and his family, or with the Soul Salvation. Either way, it was difficult to predict what would happen next wherever she was, but she doubted she could avoid Dimentio and his crew for much longer.

But seriously, Paul looked so…_sweet_ covered in cake. xD

* * *

Lol, I couldn't help myself. xP

I have big, huge plans for this yet, so stay tuned!

And Crimson, is Xavier in character? I have I bit of a tough time writing for him =.='

Well, that's it for today folks. And now, I am craving something sweet so ciao for now.


	28. To Canalave We Go

**Pokémon**

Hey there, it's me! I want to say thank you to the epic people who favorited/reviewed. You deserve a cookie...but don't look at me, go get your own. I'm too lazy to check this over for any errors, but I hope you enjoy it anyhow. Please leave a message at the beep...

**Chapter # 28 – To Canalave We Go**

"_Boss," a voice said. A door screeched open and clicked shut. _

_Alex looked around, trying to locate where the voices were coming from. '__Why can't I see anything?__'_

"_Yes? What is it?" Another replied._

'_Everything's black.__' She whipped more urgently now, but it was if she were tuned into a radio station. She couldn't tell where she was, almost as if she was floating in space. She began to feel panicked._

"_We've had word that operations on the island have been shut down. We don't think anyone was hurt."_

"_I see…" There were muffled sounds as the two stopped talking for several seconds, something that sounded like an announcer of a live battle. "And 'he'-"_

"_Unfortunately got away."_

"_Is everything set for the end of this week?"_

"_Yes, Boss. I have made sure that all the plans were made. Everything is according to plan."_

'_Who are these people? Their voices…they're too faint to recognize them. Why can I hear them? More importantly, what's happening at the end of this week?__'_

_A chiming laugh echoed out. "Good-"_

_Alex, in her unseeing state, felt herself being ripped away from the scene, far away from the people, as though she was being warped through a black hole. Then she was freefalling, like the force keeping her up just vanished. She couldn't scream; it only came out in her head. _

"_Hmhm-hmhm. Well hello there. It's been a while."_

_This was a clear voice that Alex knew. The same, mocking tone of the same unidentifiable man from her nightmares rang out from all directions, and despite not being able to see, Alex whipped around trying to find the silhouette of him anyway._

_"Don't bother. You can't see me. I wonder why that is?" His tone had taken an amused tone, even more so than her other dreams. He was laughing at her. "You've been through some danger lately. Maybe you should try to be more careful. We wouldn't want you to get hurt, or anybody you care about. Hm-hm-hmmm."_

_She no longer cared she wasn't on solid ground. She realized her eyes were shut, thus why she couldn't see, but try as she might she couldn't pry them open. Her lips felt like they were sewn together as she tried to gasp. All she could do was whimper._

_"Perhaps…we'll meet up sometime soon, Alex."_

_His presence was gone. She continued to fall. She plummeted until she could tell that the ground was suddenly under her, and she tried to protect herself._

Bolting into a sitting position, Alex found herself wrapped tightly in her sleeping bag, everything where she had left it. Her pokemon were scattered around her, silent as the night shrouding them. As she grasped onto consciousness, touching and prodding her face, she noticed her bag giving off a buzz. She tiredly tugged on both zippers, rooting through the contents. She went past her pokenav, as it wasn't the object that was vibrating. It was way at the bottom, trying to be lost and forgotten. It was the black S.S. device she was given. "Hello?" she asked hoarsely as she hit the talk button. She sat up, using one arm to give her back support, holding the device up to her face with the other.

"Ah, Shadow, darling. I'm terribly sorry, did I wake you?" The leader of the House of Chaos said endearingly.

Eyes flickering to the dark sky, the clouded moon beginning to disappear with a dull light rising, and back to the screen, she responded gruffly, "Well, this is generally the time people are asleep."

Dimentio chuckled warningly. "Well, now that you're awake. We need you to be in Canalave City by tomorrow night at the latest. That's an order, understand?"

Frowning, Alex nodded gradually. "Uh, yeah. I was actually heading that way anyway."

A charming, bright smile flashed over the video screen. "Oh, how lucky. We'll meet you at the drawbridge at 12am tomorrow. Don't be late. Ciao."

"Wait! What is this abo-" The line went dead. "-ut?" Glaring at the stupid mechanism, she hissed, "Goddamn snake man!" and tossed it back into her mess of a bag as she settled down again.

_'I don't think I have much of a choice. I wonder if there's something going on in Canalave that day…wait a minute!'_ Alex jumped up again in realization. _'The day after tomorrow is Friday, the end of the week._' She pondered over that thought for a second, shaking her head. _'No, what are the chances that my dream would be linked to that?' She gazed upward at the flashing stars. 'I wonder what could be happening...'_

As Reggie wandered downstairs at his normal wake-up-time rubbing the sleep in his dark eyes away, he stopped to blink confusedly at the blaring TV screen set on a muted volume and the figure on the couch, hair plunging down the back as their head leaned against the top and arms stretched to either side. He chuckled. "Now why are you sleeping there?"

"I'm not," the person responded, giving the poor purplette a start. "Why must the news be so boring and depressing? I just wanted to know about any significant upcoming events. Seriously, is that too much to ask for?" Alex demanded, sleepy eyes slitting open to look at the startled Reggie as he patted down his apron.

The man, after regaining his calm, was pensive for a split second before continuing his way to the kitchen as he had been doing in the first place, leaving her with, "The only thing I can think of is the gala their having down in Canalave City Friday evening. Maybe if you and Paul run into the right people you'll get a chance to go."

Eyes shooting open, Alex thought, _'If that stupid, conniving bastard is dragging me down there for some stupid party then I'm not to beat that stupid smirk off his face with a hammer.'_ Slinking up to an upright position, she followed the man. "A gala for what?" _'There must be something important for Dimentio to be so solemn.'_

Reggie set the teakettle on the stove, turning up the heat before starting on breakfast. "I'm not sure. I think there's been lots of talk about a new machine to help in the medical industry that they're celebrating, built by some big corporation. Sorry, that's all I know. Why do you ask, anyway?" he finally asked with a suspicion, eyes turning to watch how the girl would answer.

Worry filled, coffee-brown orbs avoided his, gazing distantly out the window. "Just wondering if anything exciting is happening while we're in the area is all. We should probably be leaving soon. It will be hard to fly through that fog."

The hot sunny weather of the day before along with the cool night air brought a heavy mist to blanket the city. It was still early, so some would lift as the sun came up, but anything outside the yard was obscured by dark mist.

Alex sat at the table, listening to the sounds of breakfast being made as Reggie puttered around the kitchen. Her ears picked up someone padding down the stairs, and Paul pushed through the door of the kitchen, raking a hand through his bangs and zipping up his sweater. She watched him, sipping her tea. The chair beside her screeched as it was pulled out and he sat beside her. "I'm ready to leave when you are," she stated, continuously checking the weather behind her. "When fog rolls in this early we usually get hit by rain so we should leave earlier than later or we'll have to stop midway."

Of course, she was thinking about the threatening tone that Dimentio had taken with her and whatever he wanted her to do, along with the fact that charizard absolutely refused to be out flying in the rain. The mist they could manage, but an uncooperative, nonnegotiable dragon they could not.

"Right," Paul nodded.

Xavier was next to thud down the stairs, giving each of the three a chipper good morning, along with a kiss on the cheek for Alex. Paul's brow tweaked. The cheery boy was splashed by a wave of hot tea.

"Paul, I just poured you that!"

"Perv," Paul growled at his cousin.

Alex hadn't noticed a thing that took place, as she frowned out at the unwavering mist.

Xena weakly made her way down the stairs not long after her brother. Her shoulders were slouched and sorrow was rolling off her. She flopped down in the closest seat, which happened to be where Paul was sitting, so she pushed him clattering to the floor and took his spot. She sniffled and muttered, "I'm all out of peanut butter."

"The hell?" Paul scowled, standing up to tower over her sitting frame.

She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down to her face level, pouting. "Pauly~ go get me some peanut butter right now!"

Paul ripped his cousin's grasp off of his now wrinkled sweater. "You idiot." He glowered, forming a fist and bonking the older female on the crown of her head. "Grow up!"

_'What a violent family.'_ Alex watched the two bicker and brawl equably, as though she were still staring out into the cloudy terrain outside the door instead of two people head butting each other and snarling like vicious dogs.

"No fighting at the breakfast table!" Reggie chimed in as if he were scolding two five year-olds, waving his plastic spatula at them.

"Fret not, my darling baby sister!" Xavier burst back up from the floor, a red stain on the upper half of his face from where scalding liquid had burned him. He pranced over and shoved a metal spoon with a slather of peanut butter into Xena's open-to-protest mouth. The unlidded jar landed on the table in front of her.

Alex stood brusquely, focusing all attention on her as the chair made a horrible scrape against the tiled floor. "I think we should go now." Her eyes could now see the glows of the lampposts slightly out of the way of the yard. Not the post entirely, but it was better than nothing.

"But you haven't even had breakfast yet," Reggie stated blankly, holding up a plastic bowl full of batter and a wooden spoon.

"And we haven't hardly gotten to spend any time together. I want to spend time with Paul's girlfriend." She managed to dodge the blow of the infuriated boy's fist, only just, as she beamed at him innocently.

Shaking her head uncaringly, the brunette raked her hands through her hair. "I really don't like the look of this fog."

"Then stay until tomorrow!" Xena chirped unnecessarily, tying her hair in its regular low ponytail. She was oblivious to the pointed look Alex was giving her. It took her a full minute to actually notice, but clued in immediately and a smirk slowly increased on her lips. She saluted to the girl. "Well then, have a nice flight. I know! Call me when you get there and we can talk! Xavier and I are staying here for another day or two!"

"Lucky me," Reggie droned, his back turned to the group as he vigorously whipped at the batter.

The girl stood by the window for a second longer before making up her mind. "Sorry guys, but we have to go. Ready, Paul?" she asked, shouldering her already packed and organized bag from under the table and unclipping five pokeballs for retrieving her sleeping pokemon from the fog.

Nodding silently, Paul had to wander back to his room for his bag, but came back quickly.

Everyone followed them outside, Xena pulling her pokemon back as well, and stood in front of the red beast, who was slightly moody about the dampness in the air and being awakened so early. His trainer, who stepped ahead of the hesitant others and stroked his rough snout soothingly, managed to calm him. The dragon's attitude changed however, as Paul stepped forward. He bared his pearly whites and snapped at the purplette trainer.

Alex darted in front of her pokemon. "Hotshot, be nice." She scolded, tapping his nose firmly like training a puppy, a big, red, fire-breathing puppy. "I told you that you would be flying both Paul and I to Canalave, remember?" Alex said firmly, moving aside when the dragon snorted tersely in acknowledgment.

Begrudgingly, charizard inched towards the boy and bowed his head down in front of him. He leaned down to Paul's jacket a bit and stayed in that position.

Paul stood stiff as a board as the fire beast came close enough to take another snap at him without a chance of being stopped by its trainer this time. His onyx orbs widened as he realized that it was actually sniffing him. It didn't back down either, making him glace to the smiling brunette. Why was she smiling? He read her lips as they moved. Pat him. Paul glanced down at the beast, his hand twitching involuntarily. His hand was brought up in slow motion, as if the dragon would attack with any sudden movement, and was brought down on the red nose softly.

After feeling the contact, red eyes opened again and stood up to full height, and a large breath was released like everybody exhaled at once.

"Aw, I wanna pat the pretty dragon too!" Xena screeched gleefully, running full force at the temperamental dragon, who flicked its tail and kept the girl at bay, huffing smoke at her. Xena hollered as the flame lightly blistered her skin, and settled down glumly to poke at the red mark.

Charizard stretched to full height, and then came down once again, bringing its spine parallel with the ground. It still glared at the boy and his cousin, but it didn't make any more sudden assault attempts as Paul swung his leg onto its back.

"Good boy," Alex cooed, kissing the muzzle of the creature before waving to the tense group and the admiring golden eyes of Xena on the winged creature. "We'll see you around!" She called, throwing herself on in front of Paul to control her dragon and keep watch of the sightless surroundings.

"Bye, be careful!" Reggie waved somewhat disappointedly as his cousins stood in front of his vision. He sighed, walking back in the house for a few minutes of quiet before the duo decided they were hungry.

"Bye-bye! Call me, Alex! Have fun with Paul~y, but not too much fun!" Xena giggled, waving both hands in the air like a crazy woman.

"Alex, I didn't get a goodbye kiss!" Xavier wailed as the flame on the dragons tail was eaten by the endless white void.

The brunette sighed as the voices dissolved into whispers on the wind. Her hands held onto each side of charizard's long neck. "I advise you to hold on," she told her traveling companion as the dragon sharply escalated in elevation to scale up the side of the rocky mountainside. The jolt caused the purplette's arms to wrap around her middle to avoid tumbling off. She blushed lightly, thinking of Xena's words, but shook it off.

It was going to be a very long flight for all of them.

Alex landed her pokemon in Jubilife City, about halfway through their trip, an hour later. The fog was denser than ever, since they were now closer to the ocean, to put something in their empty stomachs, give charizard a chance to rest and dry off, and to grab their jackets as the temperature had also dropped as they flew west.

Alex spun in a circle to look for a sign of where they were and tried to picture where the Pokemon Center would be. She came up blank, and turned to see Paul walking away. "Eh? Wait up! Geeze," the brunette muttered, jogging after the boy, resentful that he actually led them directly to the Center so she couldn't pop his inflated pride bubble.

Ordering a small plate of breakfast, Alex excused herself to the video phones to call her brother. He answered on the second ring.

_"Good morning. Oh, hey there, Lex. What's up?"_ Ryan asked brightly, standing up so he was no longer leaning over the counter. _"I just heard from Ash. He's back in Hearthome City to challenge the gym that reopened."_

"That's Ash for you, always lagging behind. No wonder I haven't seen him much," she responded thoughtfully. Shaking her head back and forth to banish the thoughts, she continued, "Anyway, Paul and I are in Jubilife City, heading for Canalave and the fog out here is unimaginable." She could see the golden rays shining through the glass behind her brother, making her instantly jealous of the little town.

"_Really? Wow, the weather's beautiful here."_

"I can see," the girl all but growled with a frown. "But what I wanted to know was if you found anything else in our parents' stuff. Have you still been looking through it?"

The boy got a guilty expression as he nodded. _"I have been looking a bit, but I've been busy so I haven't gotten much. There are a few scraps that were folded within the pages of dad's old notebook, but they, it seems, came from a few different things. One looks like the schematics of a machine, and there are a few that are like layouts of a building. I'm looking through the boxes for more pieces, but let's just say we could probably find the actual thing before all the bits and pieces turn up."_

"Hmm," Alex bit her lip in thought. "Alright, thanks Ry."

_"There's more,"_ the usually cheery boy turned grim, _"There is a mention of another team in Father's journal, not the Soul Salvation. It wasn't named anywhere. …be careful, Lexi."_

Taking a sharp inhale, the girl nodded. "Lovely. 'Course I will. Is that it then?"

Ryan shook his head 'no'. _"One last thing. The Professor and Delia are worried about you. Gary and I, we've been keeping them off but they know something's up. But Gary's gone off on a mission for Professor Oak and Delia's been over here nearly every day. Just, really Lexi, give them a call, especially Mrs. Ketchum. It's the least you could do after all she's done for us."_

An aggravated breath left Alex's lips and she nodded again. "When I get to Canalave. I'll talk to you soon, no doubt." She hung up the phone on him, feeling even more disheartened about meeting up with Dimentio.

They made their pit stop very short and were off again over the water. On top of the beating of the dragon's wings, Alex could swear she could detect a receding buzzing sound she had caught all the way back in Jubilife City. Now, she wasn't sure if it was just ringing in her ears, or they were following or in front of whatever was emitting the noise.

Paul frowned at the hunched girl, wondering _what_ she was looking for and _why_ she was looking for it. She had been in the same position for an hour and a half, when they left their break stop. His onyx orbs wandered briefly the few feet around them that he could actually see before leaning over her back and staring in the same direction as she was.

Charizard felt the boy shift on his back, and jerked in its flying pattern in another attempt to get him off. Even if his trainer told him to be nice, an accident like him falling off wouldn't be his problem. Smoke snorted from his nostrils as the boy clung to his trainer.

"What is wrong with your pokemon? Can't you control it?" Paul snarled loud enough for the agitated fire-type to hear. He was jerked the opposite way with a swish of the dragon's rear.

Alex's nose crinkled. "Both of you just _settle down_! Honestly," she shook her head, leaning back, her back cracking and burning with a dull ache. "Hotshot, we should probably get lower. I think we're pretty close now."

The dragon rumbled in response and none-too-gracefully started its decent. Crimson eyes saw the brunette was right as a shadow of a dock over black water solidified into their view. His wings disturbed the surface of the water with the currents they created, and swept over the wooden landing. The claws on its hind legs barely cleared the cap of a fisherman hiding in the vapor, nearly sending him and his reel into the pool.

"Sorry!" Alex shouted back, bracing herself as her pokemon stomped to the ground with its wings folding back. She clambered off, hugging her sweater around her arms as she teeth chattered. Paul was off before her standing away from the glaring dragon. "Thanks, Hotshot. Rest up for the gym battle," she told the satisfied creature, pulling it back to warm confines.

"The fog isn't as bad here," the purplette stated, walking along the path to the city.

"Hopefully it will let up soon. I c-can't go sight-seeing like t-this." She shivered, relieved to see the sign of Canalave as they passed it.

The city, despite being even closer to the water than Veilstone and Jubilife, had already started to clear up with gray clouds creating wind to squander it. They hung heavy with weight of water, just waiting to lean over and pour earthward. The air was chilly and damp, and the sun was out of sight.

Luckily, the Pokemon Center was near the entrance of the city to greet them and welcome them. There were a lot of trainers loitering around the lobby, not liking the weather either, and complaining about how the blimp wasn't operating in the conditions. Even the reporter on the television in the upper corner of the sitting area was talking about the less-than-desired forecast for the following day's celebrations.

_"This is Reporter Jackie coming to you from live Jubilife City Blimp Airport. We have been delayed in our arrival in Canalave City due to the heavy fog that has settled nearly everywhere in the Sinnoh Region! All blimp schedules to and from Canalave City, as well as ship arrivals, have devastatingly been cancelled, and the day before the unveiling of Kendrick Corp's newest invention and celebration ball! Everybody not already in Canalave is in hysterics. With me here is Mrs. Hendrix, one of the invited guests to tomorrows events, all the way from Johto! What are your thoughts about this dilemma?"_

Alex's eyes and ears had tuned in to the Sinnoh Now News, but being bumped out of the way several times, she grunted and searched for a spot to sit. "Come on," she urged Paul, walking around the lazing trainers to a table with only one other person at it. "Would you mind if we sat here?"

The seated girl turned to the pair and gave them a small smile. "Go ahead." She had long blond hair and popping blue eyes. Her back rested in the crook of the booth's seat and the window with her arm propped on the pane to cradle her cheek as she watched out the tear-stained window. A black hat lay in her lap. Sound familiar? Alex thought so as she did a double take, but hid it well.

"Thanks," Alex replied softly, trying to stay tuned to what the reporter was saying. She pushed Paul into the seat before her so she would have a better view of the television.

"…_and it would be such a shame to have to put off the whole celebration, especially after all Mr. Kendrick has been through. I was so looking forward to seeing him again."_

"_It really is so unfortunate that this rain and wind storm has snuck up on us so suddenly."_

"_It is, but I suppose if everything is up and running for tomorrow morning then everybody should be able to arrive on time. And the Kendrick's were supposed to be flying to Canalave for this afternoon so I hope they arrive there safely, and I wish them the best that the celebration won't have to be put off."_

The reporter nodded. _"I'm sure we're all hoping that this will all clear up before tomorrow morning, so we can all be in attendance of what sounds like a spectacular day. Thanks for your time, Mrs. Hendrix. And to all of the viewers, we'll just have to wait and see what later today brings. This has been Jackie of Sinnoh Now!"_

"Hm," Alex hummed, taking her focus away from the commercial that started for poketches. "I wonder what time the storm will start."

"That's the question that will determine whether the ball will still take place tomorrow night," the girl by the window said glumly. "So far, it's not looking so good. The Kendrick's arrived a short while ago, though."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Alex frowned suspiciously, leaning her forearms on the table and bending over them.

The girl smirked. "I'm Nicky Langille, my mom is Mr. Kendrick's secretary. I pretty much get debriefed on everything. We got here yesterday so we could get everything prepared for their arrival."

Alex laughed at herself for being so guarded. She had shared a room with the girl back on the island, but apparently she didn't know anything about her. "I'm sorry. I'm Alex Summers, and this is Paul," she stuck her thumb towards the moody, silent purplette leaning back against the seat with his eyes closed. She frowned though. _'The name Kendrick keeps coming up. It seems so familiar, but why?'_

"That's weird," Nicky mumbled, pressing her forehead to the glass and gazing farther out with a crease in her brow.

"What is it?" Alex questioned, looking past the purplette's frame out the window. She was surprised to see that the fog was slowly letting up as rain pattered down, like the water pellets were stomping the imposing mist into the ground.

The blond shook her head, turning back into her seat. "Nothing, it was just a shadow. It must have been."

"What? What did you think you saw?" Alex prodded intriguingly, trying to catch a glimpse out the window."

Nicky sighed. "I could have sworn I saw something land over in the trees over there, but that's insane, nothing could fly in this weather. My mom tells me I have an overactive imagination, so it was probably nothing." She sounded like she was trying to persuade herself of that, not Alex.

Now quite intrigued, Alex bit her lip in thought. For a few minutes, she was content with just staring at the spot and thinking. After that, she had to know. "Well, now that I can actually see the city I'm not going to let a little rain stop my fun. Maybe I'll see you later! Tell Paul I went out for a while," Alex rapidly rambled out, giving one last look to her sleeping companion before jogging out the doors.

And to her DOOM!

* * *

Dun, dun, dunnnnn!

Something epic is to occur in the future. I know, I can see the future (0.0) Actually, I don't, becuase then I would know all the answers to my math test tomorrow and avoid the epic failure.

Oh yeah...

_*beep!* (If you don't know what to do with it, I refer you to the top of the page...)_


	29. A Date?

**Pokémon**

Hello there my amazingly awesome readers! How's it going? Me? Well I just finished writing my music theory exam that I've spend all of last month and this month studying for and wrote my Driver's Ed test this week so I'm feeling pretty...exhausted. =.=" But anywho, I have my update ready so everything's all good, right?

Thanks for the continued support from you guys. I feel the love! I'm going to stop rambling now so you can get on with the story!

**Chapter # 29 – A Date?**

_Nicky sighed. "I could have sworn I saw something land over in the trees over there."_

The rain wasn't falling incredibly hard, just a weak shower at the time, but it would likely pick up later. Alex had left eevee at the Pokemon Center to keep Paul company as she set off to the far side of Canalave in search of the shadow Nicky had seen, and what she believed was tailing her on the way from Jubilife to Canalave. She walked across the bridge, noticing how malevolent the water looked as curled claws leapt out and jumped towards the boards and tried to climb the banks. Hastily, she got to the other side and continued across the damp cement.

Her gaze fell upon the upper windows of the Canalave Library, sure she detected a movement from the corner of her eye. But she continued without a halt, past the building. She was a few meters from the still foggy forest when a voice called her name behind her.

"Alex?"

Over the girl's shoulder, she saw a boy with shining hair like the sun sheltered by a white umbrella. He wore a thick gray jacket with jeans to protect his skin from the nasty, clammy air coming in from the western wind. She gasped and turned fully around. "Kyler _Kendrick_?" She finally realized she must look like a wreck, as her shoes and sweater weren't water resistant and slowly leaked in water, and her dark hair was tinted darker and matted to her skull, dripped into her eyes. She laughed, looking down at herself.

Chuckling at the girl, he nodded. "That's me. It's such a lovely surprise to see you again. Why are you walking in the rain?"

Alex sent him a playful glare. "I could ask you the same thing. It just so happens that I like rain."

"Well so do I, but you don't see _me_ risking a cold," he answered smoothly, pulling the brunette under the mini roof to prevent her from becoming more soaked. He pulled her close by her shoulders to make them both fit. "So, what are you doing here in Canalave? Here to see me, possibly?" The golden-haired boy sent her an attractive smile.

"No," she giggled, feeling small against his tall frame, yet strangely protected. "Just the normal stuff. Getting my gym badge, checking out the town. I already know why _you're _here though."

"Yes, well, on that note I would like to ask you something." He stopped her on the edge of the bridge, looking down in her eyes.

…

"_No way!" _Xena suppressed a shriek of excitement, doing a little spinning dance with as she giddily chortled. _"__The__ Kyler Kendrick asked _you_ to be his date to his family ball? That's huge! Please tell me you said yes!"_

Alex raised a brow at the overjoyed purplette. She had just relayed her happenings since they had landed in the city, and this was the result she got. "Wait, why are you so happy about this? I thought you were trying to hook up me and Paul."

"_Yeah, don't you see? If Paul hears that your going on a date with one of the hottest guys in the media, he'll be so jealous that he'll have no choice to confess his undying love for you."_ She sighed dreamily with a contented look dawning her face. _"Aww, Paul~y and Alex make a cute couple!"_

A pink tint splayed across the brunette's face, she turned away and mumbled out, "I did say yes."

A squeal rang over the phone's speakers. _"Then what happened?"_

…

A satisfactory smirk immediately overtook the boy's face. "Wonderful. I'll need you there to greet the guests with me, so be there at seven. And wear something gorgeous. We can't have anybody outshining my princess, can we?" He planted a kiss on the back of her hand and parted with a smile, leaving Alex blinking owlishly under the outcropping at the entrance of the pokemon center in a daze. She shivered and decided to change into something dry before she actually _did_ catch a cold.

…

"_Eeeeek! That's so romantic,"_ Xena swooned. _"Wait, where are you going to get a ball gown?"_

At that instant, the purplette looked so crestfallen that you could have sworn that somebody just died. "I've got it covered. My, er, secret agent make-up artists are in town. I'm sure they can whip up something," she slumped, dreading the reunion with the evil maids.

_"Phew, that's good, because you look horrible."_

Alex sweat dropped, feeling even more depressed. She couldn't really help but wonder _why_ she decided that calling Paul's crazy cousin was more important than changing out of her wet clothes. She already knew her brown locks were beginning to go slightly poofy thanks to the humidity. "Gee, thanks a lot."

Xena shrugged, still grinning. _"Cheer up. You've got a date in 24hours. Tell me how it goes! I'll be watching on TV, but I want to know _all_ the dirty details. Tootles!"_

"Yeah, whatever," Alex set the headpiece down with a dull _thunk_ and dragged her feet to her room, where she found Paul resting on one of the beds, arms tucked behind his head. She assumed he was asleep again, and quietly curled up horizontally next to her stretched-out fox.

"Where have you been?" Apparently he wasn't so asleep after all.

"Looking around. Why are you so tired?"

"Xavier's snoring kept me up last night."

Alex snorted in amusement. It was quiet for a few moments as the two laid thinking in their own space. Alex broke it, clearing her throat. "I ran into Kyler while I was out."

Paul's brows furrowed, though she couldn't see. "Who?"

"Kyler…Kendrick. You met him back in Hearthome before we left."

Both of them fell into silence for another few minutes.

"What did he want?" Paul demanded with an underlying growl.

"He…he wanted me to go to the Kendrick Corp. ball with him."

"…What did you say?"

"Well, I said yes."

The springs on the bed squeaked as the purplette boy shifted into a sitting position. He had taken his sweater off to be more comfortable, and she could see his onyx orbs as dark as his black shirt narrowed at her. "Why?"

"Because he's really nice, and I felt I needed to make it up after I threw all of my problems at him and you were so rude to him." Alex sighed abstractedly, rolling onto her stomach so she could look back at him. "Plus he's sweet and cute, any girl would be thrilled to go with him."

An annoyed expression passed over the purplette. He rolled back over on his bed, back facing her. He growled, "Whatever, I don't want to hear about your stupid date," before stuffing his pillow over his head as if to block her out.

The brunette frowned. She didn't know why she brought the subject up with Paul, as though he would actually talk about it, or she wanted to know what his reaction would be. With a sigh, she told herself that she would have an amazing time with Kyler the next evening, and closed the door as she went to have a shower.

Paul was fast asleep when she emerged from the washroom. She soon went to bed after eating supper with Nicky, who hadn't left her spot at the table. Darkness had settled in fast since it hadn't been that bright out to begin with. Nobody in the pokemon center was in particularly high spirits since the obscuring mist was still lingering off land, preventing safe flight or sail. It was dull everywhere, and still raining with gales of wind provoking it to slash down like bullets.

It didn't seem like long before the brunette's stomach tingled with vibrations from her alarm. Her lids fluttered open to reveal sleep-filled, cocoa eyes reflecting the fluorescent red numbers on the digital clock: 11:45pm.

With sluggish movements, Alex rocked onto her feet and pulled on pre-prepared clothes laying at the foot of her bed, which was the same long-sleeved, knee-length dress she had first worn when meeting the Soul Salvation, with black leggings and black boots. Her damp locks were left in their natural straggly waves, and she dragged her bag with her and told eevee to watch over the room while she was gone. She groggily disappeared.

She woke up as soon at the frigid midnight air took hold of her warm skin, and stepped out in the puddle-ridden streets with an umbrella to match the night sky. Her feet found themselves skipping along, humming a gloomy tune as she went. The rod of the umbrella was settled against the bare skin between her shoulder and neck, tilted in the direction in which the rain pelted. She hopped to the middle of the bridge and hoisted her legs over so she sat on its edge, legs dangling towards the bleak rapids flowing under.

Bubbles sprouted to the surface, and the rapids broke as a large object rose. There was a popping noise as the pressure released to open the hole in the top. Alex didn't waste any time in ducking in through it, closing the hatch behind her and following the ladder down.

On the last rung, a white-clothed hand was offered to assist her with the short drop that followed. Instead of a hand, Alex placed her folded, dripping umbrella in the glove and hopped to the floor with a click of her heels. "Now, Shadow dear, why the hostility?" the dark man's voice chimed out through the shadows.

"Two words. My luxio," The girl stated, strutting ahead of the man, down the long hallways with quick, agile footsteps a pace behind.

"Now, now, you mustn't dwell on such petty things. We have much more important matters to take care of. First, let us all gather round and discuss tomorrow's events." Dimentio hooked Alex's arm with his own and led her around the corner to the sitting area.

On the cream couch were two girls, one with short, choppy red hair and dark clothing, and the other with a curtain of navy hair with light gray and blue clothing. Both had SS embroidered cloaks hanging loosely around their necks. They looked quite similar, despite the differences.

On each of the black chairs were two familiar figures, a slender, sickly pale female and a buff, well-tanned male, as well as a figure of hooded black lurking by the wall behind them. The white-haired, icy girl sat stoically to the other end of the sofa, staring blankly like she really didn't want to be there. Bones, the skinny girl, was in conversation with the two girls across from her, mostly the other redhead as the other had her head bowed.

Chaos, also known as Dark, the raven-haired boy, glided into the room behind Shadow and Dimentio, finding a window seat to lean length-ways on and observe though slightly isolated from the group.

Bone's noticed the girl first, and jumped up to rush her into a hug. "Hey, Shadow. Wow, what did you do to your hair? That stupid snake hasn't hurt you, has he?" she breathed, energetic as ever.

Shadow smiled, wrapping her arms around the girl's slender waist as she was tugged over to the chair. Astonishingly, they were both able to sit comfortably on the single seat. "No, no, I mean he pushed me out of a plane…twice, stranded me on an island, and _lost_ one of my _pokemon_," both girls glared at the striking, smirking male, who was standing next to Grim Reaper. "But everything has been alright. I'm still here, right?"

"Ya couldn't 'ave pushed 'er a li'l 'arder?" the heavy accent of Bull's grumbled as he tilted his head back to look at him.

Dimentio's grin grew. "Bull," he chuckled darkly, smacking him upside the head. "Save the violence for tomorrow. Now that everybody's here, we may commence our meeting. The boss has ordered us to attend the Kendrick's special little night tomorrow, and acquire this new creation of theirs before those other goons get it. That's right, everybody, this is going to be a showdown between us and the Avengers." Everybody's face turned solemn, sneering at the name.

The eerie, monotonous voice of Grim Reaper whispered through their thoughts. "Phantoms, it is our duty to sneak through the walls to where this machine is kept like our little ghost friends without being seen or heard. We'll find everything that goes with it, and we'll take it for our own." She glided to the head of the table, hands clasped in front of her. Her subordinates obediently nodded with matching jeers.

"For this, we're going to need eyes on the outside and inside the ballroom. Any ideas on how to get inside without setting off any alarms?" Dimentio asked the rest of the members thoughtfully, circling the room.

Tentatively, Alex's hand rose. "I, uh…I'll actually be attending the ball as a guest. So I suppose you could say I have a way in. And I could probably ask a favor to get Chaos in."

The man spun to watch her, a toothy grin sent to her. "You see, Grim, Shadow really does belong under the House of Chaos. Excellent work, my dear. Chaos and Shadow will handle the inside. Scarlet and Aqua, you'll stand post with me with an aerial view of the building."

The darkly dressed female shrugged, standing and walking over to the brunette and Bones. The chains dangling from her black cargo shorts jingled with the movement of her legs. Stopping in front of the duo, her indigo eyes fell upon Shadow. "Hey, I'm Scarlet. That's my sister, Aquamarine." The other sister hid behind her long bangs, peeking out with timid tangerine orbs. "And your…?"

"Shadow," she answered, minutely intimidated by the girl, yet wondering how her sister even got into the group.

"Shadow," she tested. "Nice. You seem pretty cool. My sister and I will have your back in there tomorrow."

"Oh, thanks." The brunette smiled unsurely. She was pretty sure that was the redhead's own way of welcoming her to the House. And it was actually pretty reassuring that though she would probably in the middle of the crossfire if it came down to it, she would be backed up. "I look forward to working with you."

After her sister, Aqua bowed her head and muttered in a high, delicate voice. "Good luck to you and Chaos. Be careful." She scampered off with Scarlet immediately.

The Phantoms had huddled into a little group discussion with a blueprint and notes laid about the table. Alex, not wanting to bother them, slipped off the chair she was sharing with Bones and made her way over to Dimentio, who was watching her.

"I'm very impressed with your actions, Shadow. I'm sure The Boss is as well. From what I've heard, he's had his eye on you for a short while."

A nervous titter left Alex's lips. She shivered. _'That's not creepy at all.'_ "Thanks, but I need some help. Where are your maids?"

"Hm, what do you need them for?"

Crinkling her nose and sighing, she avoided his intrusive emerald eyes. "I need a gown for the ball tomorrow night. My date is Kyler Kendrick," she grumbled, not believing that she needed to stoop so low as to ask the snake for help.

The evil man choked down a laugh. "Oh my, that is big. You will be _very_ useful indeed. Being that close to everything happening, you can watch the whole family." Perfectly delighted, he clapped his hands twice and the spiteful maids bustled in with all their frilly glory. They grinned, seeing their dress-up doll standing before them. "You are to aid Ms. Shadow, ladies. She'll tell you what she needs. Scurry along now, there's no time to dilly-dally. Ciao!"

"Follow us!" The chipper girls ran out the door with Shadow, pigtails bouncing merrily after their frivolous faces, an exhausted and dismayed Alex reluctantly following.

* * *

Exactly three hours later, an aching Alex found her way back to her bed. Not feeling tired in the slightest, she contemplatively sat on the edge. Her strained brain was still sorting itself out.

'_There are two teams focusing their attention on this machine that the Kendrick's built. What's up with that? How is all of this connected? Why would they want this medical machine? It doesn't make sense. The Kendrick's have been having a lot of trouble, but they are known to have the best security in the world. So, I shouldn't have to worry about this right? No, I'm part of one of these teams. I know what's going to happen, so what should I do?'_ A massive headache had worked its way to the girl's mind, yet she suffered through it until the crack of dawn woke her from her stupor. She decided then what her decision was.

The sun flared out with golden rays on the horizon, and it was almost as though everybody simultaneously cheered, "yes!" from Canalave to Jubilife. Actually, it probably wasn't her imagination at all as a swarm of trainers and workers alike hustled out the doors to wait for the blimp to come floating through the air.

Alex changed into a pair of jean shorts and a fitted blue tank top with her sneakers and took everything with her out the door. "Nicky!" she called with relief, spotting a mane of blond along with a punk attire. "Listen, I need a favor."

'_If this thing truly _is_ going to be stolen, at least I can keep my eye on it from within the SS.'_

* * *

Well then, you know the drill. I can't think of much more to say!

Paul: How come I was barely in this chapter?

Me: Because Alex is more important than you.

Paul: That stupid Kendrick got in there more than I did!

Me: Well, I'm the writer and what I say goes! Maybe if you were nicer...

Paul: *_Growls_*

Me: Eeep! *_Hides behind Kyler_* Fine, you'll be in there more next time! I think you'll be visiting the gym. Please don't hurt me!

Xena: *_Pops out of mowhere_* Tootles everyone!


	30. Dark, Distractions, and Discontent

**Pokémon**

Howdy people. Haha, funny story. I had chapter 30 pretty much all ready to post right before my studying for exams, went to do a editing read of it and post and...it wasn't there. And I was like T.T so I had also gotten a head start on the next chapter and went to see if it was in there and...it wasn't So I have spent my week writing in between cramming and exams because it was really bugging me so I hope you enjoy. I don't want to get any more depressed

**Chapter # 30 – Dark, Distractions, and Discontent**

Alex waited in the Pokemon Center's lobby with a bowl of fruit and glass of milk for Paul to return. When she had gotten back from a long early-morning walk, she had discovered Paul had arisen in her absence and also went out. So now, a little before noon, she sat restlessly in her seat with her badge case opened in front of her, displaying her freshly polished symbol with that morning's newest addition standing out in the cornern of her eye. Her two smaller pokemon, eevee and riolu, were up on the table as well, munching on a big platter of pokemon food. Once again, her attention was swayed towards the morning news update airing on the television.

_"This is Reporter Jackie up on the billowy white clouds of the beautiful blue skies. That's right, the blimp is back up and running and due to land in Canalave City a little after noon. According to our meteorologist, the forecast is clear for the next couple of days, and more importantly, mild and calm for this evening."_

For the various reasons, cheering and applause broke through the lobby of lingering trainers and partygoers.

_"It has been confirmed that the Kendrick's have indeed safely arrived in Canalave the prior afternoon. I know everybody here is excited to commence the festivities. It's been a very long time since the Kendrick's have held their previously annual galas, back before the passing of Mr. Kendrick's wife. However, there is no doubt that there will be high spirits in Canalave tonight, or that this will be a memorable evening. This was your early morning update from me, Jackie. Tune in later for the inside look at eight this evening, Sinnoh Time. Until then!"_

Alex sighed. "Memorable indeed." She couldn't tell anymore if she was excited for her date with Kyler, or dreading her thievery of his family's machine. Nope. It was definitely, mostly, guilt. About what in particular, she couldn't pinpoint. Possibly, just everything in general.

Looking at the clock on the wall, Alex frowned. "I wonder where Paul has been all morning. We usually have seen each other at least by this time."

Eevee stopped her munching to gaze out the window at the cheerful city, and then back to her trainer. "Vee?"

"Should we go out looking for him? Something surely wouldn't have happened this early in the day…right?" Seeing the blank look in her pokemon's eyes, Alex sighed. "Alright, let's go looking in the woods. Knowing him, he's probably out training."

Standing up, Alex hoisted her backpack over her shoulders, a peppy fox leaping to the top of her head and an ignorant aura pokemon settling in her arms. With that, they set off to the outskirts of Canalave City. The brunette stumbled along with her sight slightly obstructed by the creature in her arms, and the straggly tree roots seemingly having it out for her.

A streak of yellow surged upward in the sky, accompanied by a booming crackle as it electrified the water in the humid air. It then disappeared in a silence.

"Something tells me we're going the right way," Alex stated, using the burst to navigate to the spot where the attack had originated. It took her several minutes having to duck under the tree limbs and kick through the undergrowth with little help from her occupied hands. Her ankle was seized by a rather feisty bush, causing her to balance on one foot, rustling the plant with her attempts to free herself.

"You better come out before I attack," declared a growling voice just beyond Alex's view, under a particularly thick sheet of green leaves.

Alex let out a dull laugh. "Trust me, I would if I could, buddy," she muttered, tugging mercilessly on her leg. Eevee and riolu were both also on the ground now, trying their best to help their trapped trainer. "Good lord, what is this thing, a carnivore? Let. Go. Of. My. Foot." She choppily begged the plant, each word proceeded with a one-footed-hop.

"I said come out now!" the voice came again, sounding more irritated than before and more likely to carry out their threat.

Aura, the riolu, cocked his head in the person's direction. His eyes sparkled at the sight of the low-hanging branch between them and this person, getting a sudden urge. Being the childish pokemon he was, he followed this urge and flung himself up and wrapping his short arms around it, weighing it down until they were both flat on the ground. He squeaked, thinking he was now trapped as well, and quickly let go, creating a sort of ammo-less slingshot. Through the rustling of the disturbed vegetation, there was a sharp yell, which Alex guessed was the sound of this person being whipped by the weapon. With wide red eyes, riolu ran back and hid behind his trainer's one standing leg.

"Electabuzz!" the person called for his pokemon with a newfound fury.

Eevee bit a constricting vine in the hedge after some consideration, watching as the brunette pulled one last time, loosing her balance completely, falling through the jade curtain, and landing with two loud _oof_ 's!

"Watch where you're going!" snarled the previous male character.

"Watch who you're threatening!" bellowed Alex in return, wincing as she sat up slightly.

"Oh, it's you."

"Humph, don't sound so enthusiastic, Paul." She looked at her red ankle, rubbing it gingerly. "Good job, Isis!" she called, beckoning the fluffy creature to come out, trailed by a guilty-looking fighting pokemon. Her brown eyes looked back down, noticing she was still sitting on the purplette.

"Get off me," Paul commanded her, looking to the side.

With a huff, Alex retorted, "Paul, you're giving me mixed signals here." She braced herself by placing her hands square with the ground, ignoring how close she was as she stood using her arms and her one good leg like a push up.

Keeping his hair covering his face, Paul stood, muttering, "You've been spending too much time with Xena. You're beginning to get as irritating as she is."

"Aw, come on, Paul~y. You know you love me," the brunette pouted, using the nickname and voice the older cousin did when talking to the boy. Testing her chaffed appendage and satisfied it wasn't broken or sprained, she set it on the ground firmly and brushed off her shorts. "What are you doing all the way out here, anyway?" she asked.

Nonchalantly, Paul jerked his thumb back to where his electric pokemon, electabuzz, stood in a battling position in front of a black and yellow accentuated eeveelution known as umbreon, who looked worn.

_'Stupid boy. I already have a trainer.'_

Alex blinked owlishly, looking around the area. Sure enough, there was no one else around. She stared at Paul. "Did you say something?" The purplette gave her an off look as he shook his head no. She looked back at the two and saw the umbreon looking at her through the red sclera and dark pupils.

'_Nice girl trainer. Maybe she knows where my trainer is.'_

The black canine approached Alex with a few bounds, sitting at her feet and looking up at her, and her pokemon beside her with a questioning tilt of the head.

"Electabuzz, use thunder," Paul ordered, jeering at the creature.

"Wait!" Alex called, bending down in front of umbreon. "Do you have a trainer?"

"Pathetic, you think it can actually understand you?" Paul sneered, having the scarlet eyes turn and glare at him before nodding at the girl and licking her cheek. "Tch, you're not seriously going to believe it, are you? " he asked, folding his arms over one another. "It's just scared we're going to beat it." His electabuzz did the same next to him, glowering at his opponent.

'_Yes! Yes! I have a trainer. Nice girl understands. Do you know where my trainer is?'_ He cocked his head to the other side, ears flopping with it as it looked at her expectantly.

"Never mind, just get out of the way. I'm going to catch that thing."

Alex reciprocated his earlier look. "Excuse me?"

With a sigh, Paul rubbed his temples. He took a hold of her arms and pulled her so she was now standing upright behind him. "Electabuzz, use brick break." The yellow and black striped pokemon jumped into action, raising a flat hand above its head and bringing it down with focused vigor.

Umbreon held its ground, matching its opponent with an iron tail. It sent Paul's pokemon back with no additional damage done.

"You are _un_believable," Alex muttered to Paul's back.

Alex didn't notice he seemed to hesitate as he was about to call out another attack. His gaze flickered back to where the girl slumped back against a tree trunk with her pokemon cuddled up against her. Heaving another sigh, he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets, closing his eyes. Electabuzz looked at him in confusion, awaiting orders. The only thing that left Paul's lips were, "Shoo."

Umbreon wearily lifted from the crouch it had tensed into, still eyeing the two. He shuffled sideways, as if a sudden movement would bring the duo assaulting him again. After no such thing happened, the pokemon dashed back to the brunette girl and her friendly partners.

A smile broke onto the girl's face. She hoisted a hand to stroke the canine affectionately. Her softened eyes met Paul's, who was watching her intriguingly. "Thank you, Paul."

"Tch," the purplette scoffed outwardly indifferently, "whatever."

"So, you found my Lunar."

Alex nearly jumped out of her skin as a cold voice froze the air around them. She quickly stood and backed away, dragging her pokemon with her until she was beside Paul. She watched as a spiky black-haired male stroll out of the forest. He halted at the border of the trees looking at the purplette and brunette with familiarity that was sent right back. He nodded at them.

'_Dark!'_ Umbreon cantered to his trainer, obediently sitting to his right.

"It's strange though. He looks a little worse for wear since the last time I saw him. You shouldn't wander off like that, Lunar." Dark turned a fiery gaze at Paul with his amber hues alight.

"You shouldn't let your pokemon wander off like that. It would be a shame if something happened to it," Paul countered, causing a brief flicker of fear in the other's eyes.

Alex was shocked to begin with. She knew it was wrong to think that nobody in the Soul Salvation had a life outside of that one, but it still made her want to shrink away from him as much as she could. But he stared at her after the confrontation with Paul and managed a small smile and wave. "Hi." She thought for a minute, and realized she actually hadn't ever truly introduced herself. And though she was tentative to do so, a lot of questions would be brought up if he ended up calling her Shadow. So as if an afterthought, she added, "I'm Alex."

Dark blinked at her. He finally approached the two trainers, though he still stayed a bit farther back, and a micro-smile pulled on his lips. "Dark Satoshi," he told her quietly, playing along. "Thank you for taking care of Lunar."

With a bit of surprise, Alex nodded. "No problem." She saw the black pokemon grin at her, kind of creeping her out more than she already was. _'That's it, these people have finally driven me loopy.'_

"Let's battle."

Alex nearly face palmed out of habit. Oh how many times she heard that phrase uttered by the same male with the same deadpan expression and fierce, detached tone since she had been traveling with him. She was honestly beginning to believe he just couldn't contain himself. He just _had_ to challenge _any_ trainer within his vicinity or he would just _poof!_ blow up. So accordingly, she gave him her blank, dark-eyed stare that didn't meet his forward set gaze. "Seriously, I was pretty sure we just went through this."

"No," Dark retorted just as short and…bitter. Sweet just didn't seem like the right word.

Alex elevated her brows, her and her pokemon lolling their head from side to side as the two males built up their piercing auras. "Here we go again~" she sang in a hushed whisper down at eevee and riolu.

"Why," the purplette's lips snuck into his signature mocking smirk, "you scared or something?"

"Oh no he didn't~" Alex tipped her head back to the ebony-haired boy with the humorous grin and flicking of eevee's feathery-fluffy tawny tail.

"Of course not. I'm not sure what would lead you to believe as such." Dark shuffled a bit, tugging as his blue leather jacket uncomfortably under Paul's non-relenting onyx glare.

Electabuzz's horns cackled with electricity, throwing a fist into his palm tauntingly toward the golden-ringed pokemon. His trainer did much the same with his intense stare-down and aggressive stance. "I suppose a trainer with a pokemon as pathetic as that would have reason to be embarrassed."

"Oh _no_ he didn't," Alex loudly announced this time, a pucker deepening in her forehead.

A flash blazed in Dark's molten orbs like the shadow of a cloud blocking out the sun. "Actually I would much rather challenge your _friend_. _Alex_ was it?" He stiffly derided her _and_ sort of complemented at the same time. What great skill…

And the great reply? "Me…?" The brunette pointed at herself with a dumbfounded face. Well that was new. Who would ever turn down a challenge from the great and mighty Paul?

"Idiot," Paul shook his head.

"Shut up, you're just jealous." Alex stuck her tongue out at the boy. "Well alright. Let's do it," she said to Dark, hoisting her hand to her belt to unclip a red and white ball.

"Not here. I had something else in mind," Dark's apathetic voice stung through the air distantly. "Follow me."

* * *

In the Northern part of the city a large crowd had gathered in a full, packed circle. The middle was a bare area with the many people as a frame, a white line slicing through the middle with a short metallic pillar in the middle. On opposing sides, just beyond the border, stood two rectangular, caged pedestals, each attached with thin, towering shafts planted vertically by the sides.

Alex squeezed through the miniscule cracks between the bodies. She could feel Paul close behind her as she followed the crop of spiky black bobbing just ahead. Eventually, after more work than necessary and a few shoves later, they made it to the center of the donut hole and she got to behold the grand set-up for herself. Dark turned, his golden rings looking forcefully into hers.

"They've set up this in recognition of the Kendrick's big gala tonight. It's one of their earlier creations, commonly used in Trainer School's; a Battlefield Simulator."

"Oh." _'So he wanted to see if the Kendricks would be here. And if they were then Kyler would more likely respond to me if I was there.'_ She stood for a few seconds, still observing the particularly ordinary looking grassy field in front of her. "How does it work?"

"Alright! We're still waiting for two more brave trainers to come on up and volunteer. Let's go, two trainers, front and center!" A man sat in a highly elevated chair with a bullhorn in hand like a lifeguard watching a pool.

Dark stepped out of the borders, dragging the brunette's wrist to urge her on, and strode steadily to the left pedestal while Alex hesitantly went right after glancing back at all of the expectant eyes.

"Lovely, lovely, we have our two challengers! Now we can-"

"How about we make it four!" chimed another feminine voice as a billow of blond locks raced across the ground, clearing the rim of the cage. Her electric blue eyes sparkled as this newcomer twisted the black skull hat backwards on her head.

"O-kay then," the announcer started again, "We need one more person in that case…or somebody to _get off the field_." Nicky, the blond, flashed the man the finger.

Alex looked back to the crowd, noticing Paul stepping forth as well and making his way over to her, still looking cocky as he did often before he went in to a battle. She sighed as he joined her in the box. "Because our tag team battle went so well the last time," she muttered, pulling her hair nervously over her shoulder like a curtain separating her from the watchers. She then shot him an extraordinarily candy-coated smile and gushed, "So be a team player, or we'll be sleeping with charizard tonight. And a word of caution, he breaths fire in his sleep." With an evil glint from those brown eyes, Alex faced the speaking announced.

"Is that all? Well, we're starting anyway. Now, let me explain the rules before I'm interrupted once again."

"Get over it!" Nicky bellowed, receiving quite a few chuckles from the audience.

"What did I just-? You know what, never mind." The man flicked his hand in a talk-to-the-hand fashion toward the girl and continued. "Trainers will each pick 3 pokemon from your team and place them on the panel in front of you. These will be the only pokemon who can be called upon during the Simulator Battle. Now, at random intervals during the battle, your arena will change whether it's from grassy-plane to high above the clouds or the fiery depths of a volcano. These brief periods are your chance to switch the on-field pokemon with one of the two other's in waiting. You may switch as many times as you wish. Pokemon may be recalled at any time, however. The battle will be over when any _one_ trainer, regardless as to if your partner still has a pokemon standing. Other then that, it's anything goes, now pick your team trio!"

With a nod, all for trainers unclipped the selected number of pokeballs and set them in the indents in front of them. A blue light surrounded them in a light, clear glow. Alex watched her partner from the corner of her eye. "Paul, remember this is a _tag_ battle, alright?" she pleaded in a mutter, switching to look at her encased pokemon. "I don't say anything about your training style, but don't bring _my_ pokemon into it." Her sheet of hair didn't allow her to see the cynical expression temporarily leave the boy's face as his black gaze flashed at her down turned stare.

"Okay! Now that everybody's ready, let's battle!" The announcer man brought a remote out and switched it to an upward position.

The top of the pillar in the midpoint of the circle flashed on with a white beam streaming up to the sky. The caged confines holding the pairs of trainers rose like elevators on the vertical rods to the point they were able to see everything around them. The ray then coned out from the base. The features their arena blurred into the background, washing the people and sounds away. The plane rippled, the tiny disturbances turning aqua-blue as they swept by in a current.

Alex looked to her feet, noticing she and Paul were standing almost to the point they were a tad tilted to fit side by side together on a flimsy navy diving board. Their railing splitting, half moving to her left and the other to Paul's right. The brunette picked her leftmost pokeball and tossed it down into the deep-blue deaths. A shimmering light flared, and her pokeball came back to her awaiting hand. Paul took his closest pokeball and dropped it onto one of the forming yellow floating devices.

Oddly enough, the opposing team did the exact same. Nicky's pokemon was released in the water, while Dark's landed on a Styrofoam platform.

The two water types broke the surface, bobbing in place. Alex's baby blue, red-scaled and fanged crocodile squirted the newfound water up like a fountain before gurgling and splashing in it like a toddler. Nicky's choice was an elegant seahorse with whimsical fins and coral-like protrusions and long, narrow snout. The two others where electric types; the fierce black and blue lion, luxray, and the yellow striped electabuzz of Paul's.

"Since I challenged you, you have the first move," Dark yelled over to Alex, who nodded.

"K, croconaw, use crunch on kingdra!" The croc shallowly dove and rushed at the floating pokemon with its ruby scales slicing the surface and jaws open wide.

"Dragon pulse!" The part dragon seahorse jumped out of the water, the opening in its snout bursting with a malevolent violet/red beam.

"Retreat underwater!" Alex called.

Meanwhile, luxray rapidly darted from platform to platform, dodging the many thunder's aimed at it but not able to get close enough to launch its own attack. Dark called, "Sparky, go in with a thunder fang!"

"Thunder, again." The shower of sparks flew again, but the fast-moving feline pounced easily over to electabuzz, teeth cackling with electricity.

The swimming duo sprung from the pool, croconaw slamming kingdra down from its mouth with a vicious flick of its head after receiving a dragon pulse to the mouth. Then, with the command from his trainer, he sprayed the cat with a water gun. The sparks in luxrays jaw, conducted by the water assault, turned their rage back of itself with a cry.

"Thunder, on the pool," Paul demanded, finding the opening where it wouldn't affect Alex's pokemon as it had landed rather indiscriminately on its cream stomach on a yellow platform. The water sizzled with power and zapped kingdra out of the pool.

"Kingdra!" Nicky gasped, "Are you alright?" The seahorses red eyes opened and it shouted in response. "Alright, surf's up!" Water rose in the entire width of the pool, just in front of luxray so it wouldn't be hit, then rolled and crashed down, sending a powerful wrath toward electabuzz and croconaw.

"Electabuzz-!" Paul stopped from the glare radiating from the brunette. An electric attack would more than likely hit croconaw too. He scowled and crossed his arms, causing Alex to smile.

"Croconaw, in front of elecatabuzz and use water gun, full power!" she called. The water type stood and waddled protectively in front of the electric and unleashed a strong water current directly in front of them both just as the tidal wave crashed. When the water began to settle, it revealed that the water gun created a bubble around the two, leaving them completely untouched.

"And _that_ is teamwork." Alex grinned. Her crocodile tittered and happily danced.

"Luxray-!" Dark's command was lost in the rumbling.

The scenery warped. The crystal water turned dark green, springing up with vegetation. The sun flared up out of nowhere, beating down with dazzling strength. The trainers were now in trees forts, roof overhead shading their eyes so sight wasn't completely obstructed.

Everybody returned their tired pokemon and released new ones into the long blades of grass. Alex, however, did a double take on the pokemon that went in. Her face was the picture of puzzlement. What was supposed to be a fluffy brown fox was rather blue and black colored and walking on two paws instead of four.

"Aura?" she asked, hand rushing to her belt. There was a pokeball where riolu's usually was, and none where marowak's resided. "Ah, crap," Alex grumbled. "Well, I suppose this would be a right fine time to start training riolu," she laughed dryly. She noticed Paul give her a bizarre look, but chose to ignore it as always.

The large and fiery magmortar stood tall and visible in the meadow for Paul's side, a yellow bristling eeveelution hopped into the green sea and was engulfed with a slight rustle, the pokeball flying back to Nicky. A little navy pup called poochyena disappeared last.

"Alright, let's kick this up a notch, huh Paul?" Alex smirked, happy that her last idea worked.

"Hn. Magmortar, use fire spin on the field."

"Jump riolu/Blue/jolteon!" Alex, Dark and Nicky each called respectively.

The large pokemon let loose a spiraling cyclone of flames from its cylindrical arms around a circular area, creating an average sized battlefield free from grass and little fires licking up from the thoroughly scorched ground.

"Riolu, copycat!" Alex called to her bipedal pokemon. With a giggle, the pokemon began to spin like a ballerina, body glowing red and intense flames lashing out at the other two airborne pokemon. They all landed, jolteon and poochyena with burns covering their body while the cute riolu stood on magmortar's fire-like shoulder pad, clapping excitedly at the red-orange colors it had created.

"Blue, use secret power!" Dark commanded. The small puppy barked, its thick fur bristling and sending needles at the duo.

"Pin missile, jolteon!" The yellow spikes also rose on the electric canine's back, shooting along with the others.

Paul threw his hand out. "Now, flamethrower." Fire obliterated the incoming spears, scarcely missing the canines as they flung themselves out of the way.

"Follow up with quick attack and high jump kick." Riolu flashed over to the team, skidding into a stop, leaping up and lashing its legs out. Poochyena did its best to evade all of the kicks, but one finally hit and it yelped and fell.

Poochyena's form washed over with white, its legs growing longer, its body growing bigger. The new evolution, mightyena, howled as the transformation was completed. It's tail flicked riolu back to its side.

A miniscule smile showed on Dark's features. "Blue, go in with ice fang!"

"Jolteon, cover with discharge!"

"Let's finish this now!" Alex called. "High jump kick, one last time!"

"Rock tomb."

Magmortar stomped the ground and a series of rocks closed around a surprised jolteon, cutting off the electrical attack and KO-ing it. Riolu attempted to jump away from the snapping fangs, but got caught by the sudden reflexes of mightyena. With a yelp, riolu kicked its captor with all the energy it had left and both pokemon fell, riolu frozen solid.

"Paul?" Alex asked.

"Magmortar, unfreeze riolu," he told his pokemon. The fire creature produced a weak, hot breath to defrost the little pokemon, who sat up feebly.

"Awesome job, Aura. You too magmortar." The brunette eagerly recalled the small pokemon. "And that is enough battling for you for today," she whispered, kissing the sphere. "You did your best."

Magmortar looked at her, seemingly befuddled by the words, then to its trainer. Paul nodded approvingly as he pulled the fire pokemon through the red beam.

The setting morphed once again, blue skies surrounding them. Puffy white clouds bloated around them and over their heads. Tall, ivory columns climbed above through the fluffy ground in an arrangement like stepping-stones. The trainers stood on two of the rounded summits.

"You may have gotten us last time, but we're still going to win!" Nicky shouted over to the brunette and purplette as she and Dark threw their pokeballs soaring. Nicky's psychic pokemon kadabra, from the island battles, levitated in the blue space, a scruffy white furred canine with a blue-gray oval decorating its forehead, a scythe-like tail and sickle-shaped growth on the right side of its head, AKA absol, landing with a ferocious snarl in front of Dark.

"We'll see," Alex called back with a wink that made the female laugh. She and Paul selected a long, sleek serpentine dragon dragonair and the plump, navy and red-feathered honchkrow.

Paul gave Alex a quizzical look as the dragon fully emerged. She shrugged, flipping her long hair. "I got lonely having two open spaces in my team. And she really doesn't like the Professor or my brother all that much. Actually she doesn't really like any male figure, so you might want to watch out."

Dark decided he had enough small chat and mentally worked up a plan under. "Blake, whip up a razor wind." Absol raised its head with a long, low howl, creating a whirlwind that spread about it. Then, using its sharp claws, it hurdled across the stone surfaces and sent sharp blades flying at its two opponents. Dragonair lithely ringed around the wind while honchkrow caught the air currents as swept upward.

"Follow it up with ice punch!" Kadabra teleported level to honchkrow with an icy fist and crashed it against the bird's jowl.

"Now, night slash!" Honchkrow rebounded immediately and brought its wing down on the psychic's abdomin as it swooped and came back around. "Dark pulse," Paul demanded, continuing the assault. The wicked purple beam blasted kadabra straight down and completely took out an entire column. "Finish it with aerial ace." With one speeding attack, kadabra was out.

"Dragonair!" Alex cried as it was hit with a series of cuts caused by the wind-conjuring mutt. It weakly landed on a support, coiling up like a defensive snake and glaring through glossy amethyst gems, a blemishing notch in its beautiful, pure-white wing. The tip of its tail ascended threateningly, the two orbs on it and the one under its neck flashed and cackled with darkness, making the sky turn overcast and the pokemon running toward it to stumble back, forecasting the disaster coming, and jumped away from the ragged yellow bolt falling and striking its previous position.

"Blake, double team again!" Absol shook its head, knowing what was coming.

The clouds burst, cascading with water that filled the bottom with darkness and rose at an alarming rate. With a crack, the whole sky visage spider webbed and a waterfall crashed down, engulfing everyone except the trainers, who were protected by some force field keeping all of the pressure away in a box-like shape.

Everybody once again had returned his or her pokemon. Alex stood with the pokeball in hand, unable to pull the evasive serpentine back to her. She heard the ruffling of Paul's clothes, looking over to see that the boy had crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he stated, "I have no pokemon that can battle underwater."

Alex gnawed at the thumbnail of the hand not holding her pokeball. "Doesn't matter. Dark doesn't have one either so I'm evenly matched. Plus, I think she has it under control." She eyed her discolor-orbed creature weave in the water watching kingdra with an accusatory glare.

Dragonair found its way under the seahorse of its own accord. It grabbed the very tip of its tail and spiraled like a hula-hoop, accelerating until a twister funnel trapped the other dragon inside.

"K-kingdra! Counter it with your own twister except spin the other way!" Nicky called, somewhat unsure whether the pokemon could hear her or not.

Despite this attempt of freedom, dragonair's crackling resumed, the water cyclone electrifying with black steaks rising from a black ring caused by its revolving blur of a form. Alex crinkled her nose at the self-implementing dragon. "And _this_ is why she is named Tempest. If you so much as mark her image, she's gonna kick the ass of whoever is in her sight." Gradually, the spinning slowled and became erratic. The ring broke apart with the serpent spiraling down to the sandy bottom. "Sadly, she uses all of her energy doing this and knocks herself out. With a sigh, she lined her pokeball up with the falling dragon and brought it back, kingdra following out from the settling tornado.

"And we have our winners!" The virtual world cracked and the true brightness of nature glowered in their eyes. The crowd cheered and whistled, bringing back the rest of their senses. They were jolted as their elevators took them back to ground level and let them off after the bumpy ride.

"Oh god," Alex muttered, linking her arm with Paul's. "I don't feel so great."

Paul gave a short, "Hn, idiot," as he led her through the parting crowd and back on the main streets. She had her eyes closed, brows creased and grimacing at the early afternoon sun as her head settled on his shoulder. He kept his hands stuck in his pockets, looking at the ground to avoid the zealous smiles the passerby's gave them.

Alex growled miserably, not moving from her spot but feeling and hearing the rumbling of one of the phones against her back and the maddening _bring-brinnng…bring-brinnnng…bring-brinnnnng…_ resonating from it. "Shut upppp," she groaned.

"…Maybe you shouldn't go tonight," Paul apathetically said to the girl, who was still cursing at the phone.

The brunette stiffened. She had forgotten about tonight. With a deep inhale she quietly answered, "It's not that simple. I'm _expected_ there by… a lot of people." She finally opened her eyes to look at him, but her attention was taken away with an astonished expression, her body rigid.

Turning his head slightly, the purplette could see a silhouette of a man looming from the alley out of the corner of his eye. It came closer and closer until it was just about to step into the sun. Alex stood like a statue beside him, expecting the worst.

"I hope that doesn't mean your expecting not to have a good time."

Alex released her breath with a gush, feeling the tenseness flowing out of her muscles as the feeling of danger vanished. "Kyler, you nearly gave me a heat attack! What are you doing here?"

"Yes, what _are_ you doing listening to our conversation from an alleyway?" Paul added in, inspecting the tall boy's face suspiciously, exactly the reverse reaction of his partner.

Kyler smiled, walking closed to the pair but watching only Alex. "Terribly sorry, I was just taking a shortcut though the town. I didn't expect to run into you like this again, Alex. I saw your battle airing on TV, however. It was quite…amazing I must say," he complemented dexterously.

Frowning from Paul to Kyler, Alex uneasily gestured between them. "I believe the two of you have already met."

The golden-copper haired boy's blue eyes flashed towards the purplette's glaring ones momentarily before gazing back. "Yes, I believe we have. Anyhow, I have some pressing matters to attend to so I must be off. I look forward to seeing you tonight, Alex." Kyler bowed his head and kissed her cheek, bumping Paul's side roughly as he retreated down the road.

"Mmmm," Alex whimpered, slumping against Paul. "I think I need a catnap." She didn't notice that Paul glanced behind at Kyler, who had done the same. She didn't see fair-haired boy's smile falter or his eyes darken, or how Paul suddenly smirked at the boy and faced front. "You better not be laughing about running me into anything or something like that, because I don't have enough energy to hit you...or open my eyes to check."

The purplette hadn't noticed he was laughing until she had mentioned it after feeing him slightly shaking. "Just shut up and keep walking."

"What if I'm too tired to walk?"

"…"

Where was a perfectly good brick wall when you needed one?

* * *

**Dawwww :3 Is Paul going soft? Maybe just a little? He's so cute.**

**Next chappie, the ball. Fun, fun, fun! Review, message, and I am on summer break! Mwahahahaha!**

**You know, as long as I don't lose it again T.T**


	31. Kendrick Corp Caper part I

**Pokémon**

Dear goodness it's been a long summer. I spent all of August studying for "A Music History and The Enjoyment of Music" exam, which I wrote last week =.=' Enjoyment my butt. But I got through it, writing some while procrastonating, ended up hating it and had to do a lot of revisions. I don't even know if I like it now, but I have something planned for the next chapter. Everything shall by explained soon, my young readers. MWAHAHA!

...Ahem. Without the writers notes at the begining and end, my word count came to be an even 5000 words, which I found ensanely awesome until I realized I had to ruin it :\ Oh well...

K, I think I checked over this...at some point or another. If it's littered with mistakes (which it shouldn't be, I'm usually quite careful while writing) blame it on the stupid exam!

Please let me pass...please let me pass...please let me pass...I don't wanna write it again...

...Please enjoy while I continue my rant...

**Chapter # 31 – Kendrick Corp. Caper part I**

"Ouch! …Ouch! … Ouch! …Quit it!" Alex exclaimed, trying to put her hands up to protect her poor abused scalp, only to have them restrained airtight to the arms of the rolling chair. The television inside the Library blared, the building in which the Soul Salvation was temporarily commandeering, talking about trivial things on everybody else's completely normal, inconsequential lives. Oh, she remembered when she was like that.

Now she was a dress-up Barbie doll, or worse, a puppet complete with strings for the use of some manipulative people…

She was now wondering if she made her decision too hastily when asking the devil-maids for assistance. One of said ladies was directly behind her, pulling at the rollers none-too-gently from her chocolate locks, feeling like the strands were being pulled from the roots as she picked at them. The second was in line for her to glare at, painting the nails, which were forcefully being held in place, with a soft shade of black.

"It wouldn't hurt as much if you would stop fidgeting," the maids simultaneously answered in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"I'm fidgeting because it hurts!" the girl winced as the next curler was tugged out even more harshly. "Ow! You're enjoying this, aren't you, you sadistic bastard?" she cursed across the room.

Chuckling darkly, the person slumped in the chair watching with a smirk replied, "Now, now, Shadow darling, I would watch what you say if I were you. You are the one who asked for this."

"Actually, Master Dimentio, perhaps it would be better if you were to wait outside for the finished product. We still have very far to go," the maid working on the girl's hair told him, momentarily pausing in her assault.

Shrugging and standing, grin never leaving his complexion, the man went with a, "Very well then, see you in a bit. Ciao!"

Alex sighed, admiring her sleek nails to take her focus off her aching skull.

"So, are you excited for your date?" "Yes, are you?" the girls demanded, not relenting their primping.

"I suppose," Alex answered, pursing her lips. She still wasn't sure. Kyler was amazing and all, handsome, kind, clever, but something felt…unusual. She didn't know what. She thought back to the afternoon she had bumped into the boy on her and Paul's way back to the Pokemon Center.

Kyler had been pleasant to her each time he came into contact with her, but tried to make it seem like Paul wasn't even there, and acted uncivil to her purplette partner when he actually did acknowledge him. However, Paul also reciprocated this feeling, it appeared, and tried his best to show his dislike of the blond. Alex assumed that their hostility was a cause of the circumstances of which they met under.

"You _suppose_? You better be more enthusiastic on your date or he'll get bored with you." "And we don't want all this time of preparation to go to waste."

With a blank face, Alex replied, "My enthusiasm is a mirror of what I'm feeling at the moment- Ow!" She frowned as the last curler was released from her hair.

"Oops, sorry," the maid said with false remorse, plopping the hollow cylinder into a small basket with the rest. "Now for the makeup."

The brunette groaned. "Is that really necessary?"

Both women stopped what they were doing and looked at her insensitively. "Yes," they answered bluntly together.

"Tch, so could you," Alex huffed, sticking her nose up in the other direction.

"…"

"Ouch!"

"Whoops! Sorry again!"

* * *

Finally, after hours of brutal and unremitting torture, Alex stood in front of a full-length mirror, with the maids circling her, looking for flaws that they may have missed. Her mouth was slightly agape as she stared at the reflection, turning to regard from a different angle. "…Holy crap!" she wheezed. That may have been since her dress _just_ got on her body and was now so tight it felt like a second skin.

Long brown hair fell in loose, delicate curls swept over her shoulders and down her back with the top half pulled up and piled in an untidy bun, clipped with sparkling flower clips. Her dark eyes were surrounded by a blue liner and a silvery shadow disappearing in the crease; cheeks displaying a faint, pink blush; lips glossed with a nude pink.

Clinging to her small frame was a strapless ball gown of a beautiful turquoise color with a notched neckline. The fit bodice appeared as though it has two layers. The base layer was decorated with transparent white and blue gems like water droplets, with a satiny material encasing over top of it with a v-neck to show the slightly scooped beading part. An empire band with a small, flowerlike gem pinned in the middle is attached under the breast line. Following the band was another section of the beaded base in a stretched V shape, cut off at the sides as another satin band wraped around the small of the waist, set with another gem. Then the pattern starts again with the glittering accent, with the last belt rounding her hips, finished with a gem. In the back it was laced up like a corset. The full length, slightly voluminous skirt gave it a princess feel, falling in soft, sheer layers with a small flare, water-drop beading shimmering here and there.

Crystal studded, silver, kitten heal sandals with an open toe adorned her feet. Alex was just happy they weren't too high so she would kill herself, or her feet.

"You look beautiful, Miss Shadow," Dimentio said, sneaking up behind her and examining her over with his emerald orbs. "Are you all ready?"

"One moment!" one of the maids called as she ran to a closet door and returned after a few minutes of shuffling. She intrusively lifted the skirt of Alex's dress, receiving a yelp from the brunette before the maid explained, "It's a thigh pack. You can keep your pokeballs, Soul Salvation phone, weapons, anything you need in it for the night."

"We also fixed you up with a hidden earpiece, so you can cover for anybody on the inside," stated the other maid, while the first continued, "As well as a microphone in your necklace. We'll be able to hear everything around you."

Patting her dress back down, Alex nodded with a relieved smile. "Thanks. I'm ready now."

"Please, allow me to escort you to the door, Shadow." Dimentio held out, which the girl accepted as they began to walk. "Chaos has just begun to prepare himself as well and will meet his date at the destination you gave him."

"Good," Alex nodded.

"I want you to focus on watching all of the Kendricks. Don't let them out of your sight. Also, we would appreciate either you or Chaos would tell us about any suspicious figures wandering about. You have the advantage, since you have to go through nearly all of the guests anyway."

"Right."

"Then-"

"Dimentio, you're rambling," Alex bluntly stated, becoming restless that the man wasn't even going to be inside the building, yet was showing nervousness. It seriously made her reconsider her situation. Her heels hastened ahead, and she noticed the shadowed ones halt as the arm left hers. She peered over her shoulder and stopped.

The man's raven hair fell over his features, hiding his visage. His hands clenched at his sides, rustling the white material covering them. "It's been over ten years…ten years since we were in the exact same situation. We almost lost that one, and we did in a way. We lost a few of our own. We _need_ to make sure that _doesn't_ happen again."

Alex's eyes softened. She never saw any of the Soul Salvation members look so vulnerable before. With a deep breath, she forgot all of her uncertainties, her doubts, and her fears. "And we _will_," she said, walking closer, then stopped. "Right?" she asked apprehensively.

Shaking his bangs out of his face with a clearing of his throat, Dimentio positioned his hand on her lower back, pressing her onward. "Come on, now, we can't have you being late."

_'…Damn that snake.'_

* * *

Alex stared up at the large building lit up with a warm, inviting glow at every window. A giant banner swept beneath the roof, glinting with flashing lights. Slowly pressing up the wide, white steps, her hand brushed over the flower-garlanded railing. She reached the doors and stepped in on the luxurious, vibrant red-carpet that showed the floor of the upper lever in which she stood, as well as the stairs leading down to the polished, white and black marble ballroom. The staircase was mirrored on the opposite side, leading to a long hall that branched out to others in the shadows.

Gripping her full-length skirt in both, teal-clad hands, Alex carefully stepped down, precautious of her small, elevating shoes. Self-consciously, she wrenched her bodice up and patted down the folds, tiptoeing across the floor.

At the top of the next steps, a blond woman pushed up her black-rimmed glasses, wearing a simple little black dress that complemented her figure and held a clump of ruffles down the front. Her voice came out stern. "Alex?"

"Yes," she timidly replied, shrinking against the fixated gaze.

A smile flashed onto the woman's cherry-red lips. "Wonderful, you're right on time. Follow me," she demanded, begging a brisk strut away in her five-inch stilettos.

Frowning at her feet, Alex padded up to the top and attempted not to let the female out of her sight, wondering how long it took to master the art of unnaturally walking on the balls of your foot with a slim pole as the only support. She commended the woman for that, but she severely wished she would slow down for her sake.

The doors that passed on each level all looked to similar and symmetrical that she lost count of where she was several times, and wondered if they were just wandering round and round to make the building seem more spectacular. Every time they came to a stairwell, Alex cursed her slightly puffy skirt and shuffled up them slowly, nearly losing her guide each time.

Finally, the woman knocked on a door at the end of the hallway, giving time for Alex to shuffle up behind her before the door was opened. "Master Kyler, your date has arrived."

"Send her in!" came the angelic tone of the teen.

Turning, the woman bowed her head to the girl and bade her to enter first. Alex huffed, straightening her spine and confidently glided into the room. She barely got a few steps in before the boy was in front of her, lifting her hand and laying a kiss on the back of the glove. His blue hues appreciatively roamed her full appearance before he spoke.

"You look stunning, Alex, like a princess."

Cheeks tinting a shade darker, she smiled shyly. "Thanks. You look quite handsome yourself."

Kyler had a classy black suit that you could just tell by looking was made of high-quality material. A pure white button up was tucked into his trousers, a tie circling the collar to match his eyes, somehow coincidently matching the color of Alex's dress. Alex fluttered her eyes up to his, catching the grin plastered on the boy's face. With a tiny collision to her back, she fell into Kyler's chest with something clinging to her waist while the boy caught her by her arms with a displeased sigh.

"Wow, I can't believe it's really you!" A delicate female voice exclaimed elatedly. After letting go of Alex's waist, a little girl beamed up at her, about the age of ten. She had a sparkle in her mystical, wide blue eyes. "You're so pretty!"

"Manners?" Kyler asked with a thwarted expression as he looked down upon the much shorter girl. He had let go of Alex so she could turn and look at her attacker.

The little girl sported beautiful tawny hair pulled up in two full, fluffy, buoyant pigtails that flounced to her slim shoulders, which rather resembled two eevee tails, and forked bangs showcasing her heart-shaped face. She was a bit short for her age, but it only made her look even more adorable. Her outfit was a short-sleeved pink princess dress with a lighter skirt. Over the skirt was a sheer material to make it shine, and a big bow finished off the waist.

"Sorry, big brother. Hello, I'm Cassy Kendrick. It's a pleasure to meet you," the little girl politely greeted, finishing with a quick curtsy.

"Awww," Alex cooed, gathering the girl back to her in a hug. "You're sister is so _cute_!"

Kyler chuckled dryly. "Yeah, she sure is."

"Do I hear voices?" Another man followed out of the back room, garbed in a sharp business suit. He his blond hair was slicked back, leaving his blue eyes to stand out over his tired face, not as bright as they probably once were like his children's, but still quite stunning. He smiled, laying eyes on the group. "My, my, who do we have-" Mr. Kendrick bustled out of the back room, tightening his tie, and stopped mid-sentence after looking at the young girl standing close to his son and wearing his daughter like a belt.

Alex turned nervous about the man's eyes boring into hers. Was she doing something wrong? She felt it would be rude to look away, so remained uncomfortably making eye contact with the blond-haired man.

"Father?" Kyler asked quietly with a growing frown.

"Oh, yes!" the man laughed, centering his tie with a clearing of his throat. "Sorry, you just look very familiar, it took me off guard!" He laughed once again, quite uneasily in tone.

"Of course she looks familiar, Daddy. This is Alex Summers! Oh my goodness, I loved the combinations you used in your last contest, and the battle you had this afternoon! And I bet you got the Canalave gym badge too, didn't you?" Cassy looked up at her expectantly, clutching a handful of Alex's blue skirt.

"Actually, I just got it today," Alex replied, rooting through her purse in which she put all her necessary items from her backpack that wasn't necessary to hide. Her fingers found the black, rectangular case displaying her gym badges and handed it to the young girl.

Her eyes caught the older man's again as he stepped farther into the room. "And don't worry about it. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"And polite too! The pleasure is all mine, Miss Alex. Well, I suppose it's time we should head downstairs to let our guests in."

Alex released a sigh of relief. She was worried about what Kyler's family would be like, but she now saw there was nothing to worry about. They were just the same as any other family, albeit having a huge, extravagant ball and being extremely rich. She trailed behind the family with Kyler lagging to walk with her. They led her to an elevator in which they all stepped in. Then it hit her.

"There's an elevator in this building?" she asked Mr. Kendrick's secretary, who was sticking to him like an unseen shadow in the background.

The woman shrugged. "I'm trying to loose a few dress sizes. You could have taken it if you had wanted."

* * *

_"Goo-oood evening! This is Reporter Jackie Styles coming to you live from Canalave City in the Sinnoh Region. Right now, we're just outside the building were the Kendrick Corp. ball is just getting underway. Everybody is in high spirits as they get to see the family once again after such a long time. But that's enough of that, let's take an inside look."_

"Oh my gosh, look! There's Kyler and…wow, is that Alex? I really need to meet her makeup crew. Seriously, they look so cute together. Awww. Man, I wish I were there. I'd be all over him." Xena sat cross-legged, close as she could to the television screen in her PJ's tuned into Sinnoh Now! to watch the festivities take place.

Reggie walked into the room, followed by Xavier, each with a cup of tea. "So, she managed to get invited after all?" Reggie asked, relaxing on the far side of the couch so he could see the majority of the screen with Xena's head in the way.

"Ah, yeah!" Xena stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We should have gone too. I bet there would have been a bunch of cute girls there," the girl's brother simpered.

Reggie nonchalantly tossed a couch cushion at the boy's head, making him once again spill his tea for the second time that week. "Oh, sorry Xavier."

"It burns!" he cried, hopping off of his seat and running all over the house like a berserk chicken with its head cut off. "Ouchie! I wish Alex was here to kiss it better!"

"Xavier, no! Alex belongs with Paul! He's going to confess to her from jealously at her being with another, super-hot man and because she broke through his unemotional, black little emo heart and then Alex and I will be cousin-in-laws and we can torture Paul together and they'll be together forever!" Xena sighed blissfully.

Reggie blinked and hummed. "It _would_ be nice to have a normal family member for once."

The purplette girl glanced back with a grin. "I know right! Xavier and Paul are just so…" she twirled a finger by the side of her head, making her golden orbs go cross-eyed and stuck out her tongue.

"…Yeah, that's who I was referring to…"

_(In Pallet Town)_

Ryan was curled up on the sofa, slumped over the arm with a stack of thin books on the coffee table and spilling off of his lap. A loud _THUMP THUMP THUMP!_ resounding off the door made him bolt with a start. "You'll never take me alive!" he shrieked, leaping over the back of his seat and covering his head.

_"Excuse me? Ryan Summers, what are you doing in there? Open the door this instant!"_

Ryan poked his head up so his eyes and the top of his head was the only thing visible over the couch. "Ms. Ketchum! Sorry, I'll be right there!" he shouted, gathering all the books up hastily and dumping them inconspicuously out of sight in the next room over. He sighed, fixing his out-of place hair and unlocked the front door with a bright smile. "Come in."

"What was all that about?" demanded the redhead, marching through the small gap Ryan had created and suspiciously inspecting the dark living room.

"Nothing, nothing. Just, you know, fell asleep while watching TV. Darn those criminal shows." The brunette tittered timidly. "So, what brings you here this fine evening."

The redhead woman pouted her lips, sitting quietly down on the couch after folding the messy blanket and fluffing the seat cushions. "I'm worried about Alex. She _still_ hasn't called yet."

Ryan threw an unseen reproachful glance to the side while cursing his sister. "You _don't_ say." He faked a sympathetic smile toward the woman. "I'm sure she's just a little busy. She'll call soon. Hey, how about Ash, how's he doing?"

Ms. Ketchum waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah, he's fine. I want to know where my daughter is!" she cried.

"I think I have a pretty good idea where," the boy said, looking at the television with astonishment.

Delia gasped, grasping the remote to blast the volume on the News channel where the brunette girl waved at the people entering a grandly decked out building with a tall boy standing close to her. Clasping the device close to her chest, her eyes sparkled. "Oh, I just knew she was alright. See, nothing to worry about, Ryan," she said, patting his knee.

Ryan sighed, rubbing his temples. "Of course you did."

_(The Professor's Lab)_

Gary strode through the door of his grandfather's lab, removing his jacket as he went to tell the man he was back. He found the gray-haired man situated on the floor in front of his table, eating tofu with a pair of chopsticks with the TV on.

"Hey Gramps, watcha watching?" the brunette asked, moving to the kitchen to find something _edible_ to eat.

"Oh, welcome back," Professor Oak said to the boy, blowing on his steaming meal. "You're just in time to watch the Kendrick Corp. Gala and Ceremony."

Gary walked back to the room with a glass of water. "Why would I want to watch that?"

"Well, I assumed you would have since Alex is in attendance."

The boy choked on his drink. "Alex? _My_ little Lexi…at a _dance_? I don't believe it."

Pointing his chopsticks at the screen, the man replied. "See for yourself. She's right there."

"You're eyesight's going bad, Gramps. There's no way Alex is-" his jaw dropped, seeing his childhood friend garnished in a bedazzled feminine dress, hair and makeup all done up, and her signature fake smile plastered on her lips uncomfortably.

"Told you," the Professor stated smugly, popping a piece of tofu in his mouth. He spat it out a second later exclaiming, "_Hot_, it's hot!"

Gary placed a hand over his face with a sigh. "This is even worse then the emo-kid. I wonder where he is, anyway…"

_(Canalave Pokémon Center)_

Paul shoved his way through the mass of accumulated people in the Center's lobby, all of which were only there to watch the television set to the grand event happening at that moment. He was sick of it all. It was Kendrick this and Kendrick that. All he wanted was to train his pokemon, beat the stupid gym leader and leave. But no, all the pathetic people with no lives just had to get in his way.

Alex just always had to contradict his plans.

And he hadn't even seen her all afternoon.

Who would want to be at a stupid gala with the stupid Kendrick boy anyhow?

Honestly, he couldn't even stand hearing about it anymore.

The purplette somehow squeezed himself out on the other side, at the exit so he could escape the oppressive room. He huffed in the night air, walking away from all of the bustle and noise, retreated to the quiet forest where he could do something beneficial for a change.

* * *

Alex finally broke away from her date, fleeing and blending into the crowd for a few, cleansing moments, twisting her mouth and rubbing her cheeks. "Who knew smiling could be so painful?" she murmured, weaving past the waltzing people with her head down. She placed her hands on the refreshments table and sighed.

She had spent an hour smiling and nodding to each person that entered, her arm held captive by her tall, blond date, and there were a _lot_ of guests. Then, they walked around the room and talked to people, which meant Kyler and the person talked about things and she silently stood there like arm candy and smiled the entire time. And then they danced for a little while, being interrupted quite a few times by guests either wishing to talk to the future Kendrick Corp. President, or wishing to dance with Kyler, eying her jealously. But he refused the requests and wouldn't let Alex escape for a single minute. It was Cassy, Kyler's adorable little sister, that set her free long enough to slip away. She was envious of her eevee, having let her free to wander and spot out any suspicious characters around the room.

Looking down at where her feet would be through the fluffy skirt, Alex rolled her ankles, feeling them slowly becoming tender from the heels, despite their low height. Her eyes were growing tired and all the shining lights were beginning to give her a migraine. She took a glass of whatever kind of drink it was from a waiter as he passed and sipped it while edging along the wall, watching the crowd. It was amazing that everybody could fit in the large room and still have a generous amount of room to move about.

"How's everything going?" she asked, obscuring her painted lips with the glass.

A low chuckle rumbled through her right ear. _"Why, are you worried?"_

The brunette let out a low hum, locking in on a spiky, raven-haired boy awkwardly gazing about the entirety of the spacious room with his arm loosely connected with a blond girls, who was wearing a short, gothic black dress with sparkles and a pair of converse sneakers showing from her feet. She smiled as Nicky caught her eye and waved, meanwhile Dark gave her a sharp glare.

"_We've reached the bottom floor. The security is getting even more severe, but we should arrive in the room shortly now. Everything is according to plan,"_ Grim's voice crackled through the speaker.

"Good. Any sign of people out there?"

"_Mmmmm, nope."_

"Alex! _There_ you are!" Kyler exclaimed, spotting the brunette and immediately rushing over to her.

"Oh God," Alex muttered, plastering a smile on her face.

"_Is that the boy? Aw, isn't Shadow-dearest having a good time?"_

"_I'd like to see you in here and see how _you_ like it,"_ Dark's soft tone rang through her ears.

"Hey, I just came to get something to drink," Alex said, ignoring the little voices flittering into her head. Dark had somehow managed to escape as well and was arguing with their leader. Kyler had returned to her side, taking her open hand and holding it in his own.

The boy grinned down at her. "No problem, Alex. You should have just told me and I would have come with you.

"Well, that wouldn't really be necessary." Kyler smiled, although he didn't really look like he liked being contradicted. Alex decided not to say anything more on the subject, allowing the boy to pull her to a table as he said, "Here, we can sit for a while if you like."

"Thanks," Alex breathed, taking a seat when Kyler shuffled it out before she could reach for it. Her browns eyes scoured the room again while she slowly drank from the glass.

"Are you alright? You look on edge. Just like the day that I met you." She looked back at her date, who was leaning forward with his chin planted on his fists and a smirk adorning his lips.

The brunette smiled. "Of course. I'm just…not used to being surrounded by so many people is all. Or being at a ball, for that matter. I bet all the people back in Pallet Town would have a heart attack if they're watching me like this," she chuckled, gesturing to the frills and sparkles of her ball gown.

"Excuse me, but did you say you were from Pallet Town. The Kanto Region Pallet Town?" Mr. Kendrick, who was coming to talk with his son and partially heard their conversation, asked. He gazed at her face searchingly, blue eyes enlarging.

Nodding proudly, Alex replied, "The one and only."

"Very interesting," he stated soft, staring a few moments longer before snapping out of it like he suddenly remembered his reason for approaching the table in the first place. "We'll be ready for the presentation within the hour."

"Yes, Father."

"And find Cassy and tell her, would you?"

"Oh, I'll do it!" Alex interrupted, scooting her chair so she could arrange herself in a standing position. "You two can talk while I go look for her."

Kyler frowned, moving to follow her example. "No, no. That's not necessary."

"It's no problem!" Alex called back, closing her eyes with a huge, phony smile as she was blended into the moving flow of the dance floor. She took a glace back and saw the deep scowl etching harder into Kyler's expression as the she vanished from his sight, turning to his father and saying something. She exhaled totally, changing her façade to a severe one as she spoke into the microphone. "Did you hear that? You're running out of time; they're going to start the presentation within _this_ hour, and that's less than 30 minutes!"

"_Grim, status report," _Dimentio demanded.

"_Workin' on it,"_ Bull retorted, a loud _thump!_ echoing in the background as if a fight were taking place and someone just got knocked out.

Dimentio's voice went strict, rising in a rather furious tone. _"What's going on? You weren't supposed to be seen at all. Bull, I swear-"_

A sharp hiss cut the man off, then Grim's whispered, and also angered voice drifted through the earpiece. _"A small problem arose. It turns out we need a key to get into the final set of doors. The walls are created out of some sort of material that we cannot break, nor can our ghosts pass through. Even the guards don't carry them. What do you propose we do?"_ The man swore a few select words.

"_Um,"_ a soft voice chimed, although not nearly as eerie as Grim's. Alex believed it was Aqua, Scarlett's sister, one of the ones watching the outer building. _"I hate to bring this up now, but there some people in black clothing on the roof."_

Were these the party crashers that they had been warned of? Would anybody make it out alive? Who is this mysterious team? Should I stop asking so many questions?

Stay tuned to Off to Sinnoh!

* * *

You have no idea how much I love Xena xP Thank you _so_ much, Crimson (Xena's owner). And of course little Lexi. Aw heck, I love everybody. And ~Paul~y's jealous~ xP

I think I shall go sleep for a good 12 hours! Sounds delightful! Perhaps if I'm feeling extra motivated over the rest of my summer vacation, I'll get another chapter out.

And a lot shall be explained in these next few, so...yeah.

Thank you to all who support the story :D lovessss yaaa! Ciao for now!


	32. Kendrick Corp Caper part II

**Pokémon **

Yeah...it's pretty short... But hey, it's actually out! And...tomorrow I go back to school, summer vacation is over yippy... sigh...it's _that_ time of year again, and you know what that means! Unpredictable update schedules! And I have no idea when I'll update next! Why are there so many exclimation marks!

...Don't make me gooooooooo T.T school sucks. I think it sucks a little bit of imagination from my brain everyday.

Thanks for the lovely comments :) It is ALWAYS appreciated. I'm too lazy to mention you at the moment, but I should hope you know who you are. And thanks to my sweet, darling readers for, you know, reading. Everybody deserves some cyber chocolate :) Enjoy!

**Chapter #32 - Kendrick Corp. Caper part II**

"…ey…..he….hey…dude…wake up, damnit!"

"Go awayyy," Alex groaned, the fiery, glaring sun blazing against her closed eyes along with the unwelcome, loud, prodding noise.

A softer voice entered in the background. "Maybe we should-"

"No! Get your lazy ass up _now_!"

"Five more minutes, Ryan," Alex responded sleepily turning over and stuffing everything in reach over her head as though to block the unwanted voices.

"That is _it_!" screeched the loud intrusion.

Alex felt her bed sink and rock most unpleasantly under her tired body. Her lovely clumps of comfy duvets were cast away, allowing a chill to run over her skin. The protective pillow sandwiching her head was ripped from her grasp, and worse yet, used against her in a vicious, feathery attack. "Ouch," she dully stated, lying still. Maybe if she pretended she were still asleep, the assailants would go away…

A deep rumbled was emitted from above her. "Rah!" Alex was grasped by the upper arms and jerked up to a seated position where she was shaken back and forth following the words, "Get your freakin' lazy ass out of there right now before I barbeque you into dust! I don't understand why we were sent here anyway but it shouldn't have been this hard so stand up so we can give you the damn message and we can leave! Honestly, what do I look like, a messenger bird? That goddamn boss of ours is going to get his ass kicked when we get back!"

"Sis, maybe you should stop, Shadow's turning a little blue," a nervous voice stated softly, ending the rant and movement all at once.

Well, that and the fact that the room's door flung open with a _BANG_ and caught the attention of everybody in the room.

And with that, Alex, or Shadow, had gone completely limp in her death grip, and her mind went into darkness that seemed to be clawing its way into all sides of her brain. Well, maybe it was for the best, for the moment.

_**Approximately 12 hours Prior**_

The room was brought to a halt as Mr. Kendrick and his family took their focus by clearing his throat from the top balcony, looking down upon the ballroom. The many people halted in place when the music was cut, looking around uncertainly before beginning to applaud as their attention landed on the family. "Yes, yes, thank you. And now, while we have your attention, I'd like to begin our presentation."

"_Running out of time,"_ Dark sang softly through the earpiece.

"_Well _sorry_!"_ Bones snapped sarcastically. _"This basement is like a freakin' maze. We're working as fast as we can here!"_

Alex glanced around. She was surrounded by too many people to give a remark of her own. With a searching eye, she scanned the room. Something didn't seem right. Something felt very amiss.

"Excuse me," she muttered, breaking through the gathered clump of people so she could talk freely without being heard. "Guys, are there any more people outside?"

"Nah, after Aqua spotted out whatever it was, she insists it was just a shadow or something, it disappeared and everything's been pretty quiet," Scarlett drawled in a bored manner. Alex bit her lip in thought.

"The Adaptability Nucleofuser is the Kendrick's own design. For years our scientists have worked on perfecting it's capabilities. And now, we can give you the full result, but before we show you, I'd like do delve more on what it was created to do, first."

"Dark, keep a sharp eye out. I'm sure you've also noticed something feels quite…off." She got a hum out from him in response. The brunette watched the stage for a few moments, thinking about what she was doing to something that could be so beneficial to the world.

"We haven't had the chance to test its true power, but it may even be able to fight against, or cure, terminal diseases like the one that took my late wife," Mr. Kendrick continued, pointing at the projection on the wall behind him. But Alex focused on how Kyler was giving a strange, blank look to the back of the room. Turning, her breath caught, choking and dying in her throat.

A man in the shadow of the staircase stared back at the family, a gun held firmly in his right hand. He had shades over his eyes, very out of place from the rest of the guests, with shadowy, casual attire and a crop of short, dark hair.

"Oh God," Alex whimpered, unable to take her gaze away. Dark, hearing the soft cry searched the crowd for her. His amber eyes fell to the near back of the room, where a figure emerged and in a swift, unhesitating movement shot a bullet upward.

Mr. Kendrick abruptly stopped mid sentence, and dropped his pointer in shock. The long stick clattered to the floor. His drooping eyes enlarged before his bodyguards stepped in front of him and his family. The rest of the crowd bustled into another clump, all except one, poor woman – who unfortunately had been returning down the stairs from the restroom - that was held my the scruff of her hair with her back pressed close to the man's chest.

"L-lower your guns," Mr. Kendrick croaked out to his bodyguards. He was too startled to realize none of them were around "We don't want any trouble, please! Just let her go, you won't get out of here alive if you don't." He tried to sound unyielding and adamant, but it drowned in worry and resulted in a weary plea.

"Oh really?" he chuckled darkly. "I'd beg to differ."

As he said this, the entire building lit up as a warning alarm sounded. From each and every exit or door, two steel plates slammed together to create a barrier with vertical bars falling for reinforcement. The lights dimmed dramatically and the noise cut off mid-sound.

"_We didn't touch anything, I swear!"_ Bones yelped from layers below. There was banging in the background.

"_Bloody 'ell, we're trapped!"_ Bull roared.

"_If you didn't do it then that means they're already down there! You idiots, go! Move! Do something!"_ Dimentio shouted, causing a horrible screech to emit from the speakers in the listeners' ears.

Alex froze in place, in the middle between the man and the crowd. Her mouth formed the shape of an 'O', not processing what was happening. The doors had opened at the top of the staircase, revealing an average height, rather fit man with a black fedora shrouding his face under its brim. Jet-black hair prickled out from beneath, blending in with the cloak surrounding his frame. This was it. Like her nightmare had said, he had appeared to her now in real life.

It was the man that haunted her dreams, and now she was met with him face to face.

* * *

The large marble ballroom was stiff with a stifling silence. Its previous spectacle had dulled severely, showing the monotonous color and losing its sparkle and luster. The floor once covered with people was now bare as the attendants migrated to one side of the open space, making it appear even more spacious than when everyone was spread out. Just beyond the cramped and startled group was a teen with rolling brown locks and a turquoise gown, a few meters away from the far staircase with a disoriented expression.

A somewhat short man unhurriedly stepped up to join the obscured man at the top. He raked his uninhabited hand across the golden banister, the other swinging a black, trigger-operated weapon back and forth. A grin spread on his baleful visage as he turned on his heel. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are so very sorry for the interruption, but the main event is about to take place!" he proclaimed, outstretching his hand in a flourishing sweep.

"Guards!" Mr. Kendrick bellowed, cheeks blazing with discouragement.

The man placed the tips of his fingers to his lips and wiggled them in a tittering gesture. "Oh, they're preoccupied at the moment. I'm afraid you'll have to settle this yourself. If you can, that is. Now," he sardonically cleared his throat and adjusted his blazer, "What you've all been waiting for, Kendrick's…or should I say _our_ new machine!"

The ground trembled under the building, rising in intensity until a black line split through the marble and spider-webbed out, finally ending in a gaping hole in the floor with a pedestal rising out and up. A woman sat crouched on the metal bars incasing the complex-looking machine within, drabbed in a tight, green jumpsuit. They stopped moving when they were level with the ground at the top of the stairs, smack in the center of the room. With another crack, four metal hooks smashed down, attached to thickly woven black cords to which the woman clasped to each corner of the box.

"Later, losers!" she sneered, leaping off her platform and diving down in the black fissure.

"What she said," the man smirked, he and his partner moving to make their exit through the only unblocked door.

"No!" stated a voice firmly, standing their ground in front of said door. This being was the tiny, pink-dressed Cassy Kendrick with a deep frown and crossed arms. The men laughed at the barricade.

"Look-y here. I think this little girl needs to learn some manners."

"Leave her alone!" Alex snapped, awakening from her initial shock and taking charge. She had ruffled around to retrieve a pokeball and tossed it out. Her sleek, black-furred canine houndoom bounded up the steps as the barrel raised to the little girl's eye. But even before his paws hit the ground, the older Kendrick sibling sprinted after his sister and tackled her into his arms and rolled out of the way, leaving the men to make their escape.

The brunette ran a few steps before crying, "Ouch! Crap, stupid shoes!" She kicked the low heels off her feet and climbed sideways on her pokemon's back to pursue the two fleeing members. "Stupid dress…"

"Quick! Quick! Turn the camera back on and follow them! Ready? All right, this is Reporter Jackie of Sinnoh Now! The seemingly calm evening for the Kendrick's gala has escalated to chaos within minutes! As we speak, I'm following in a high speed pursuit of the culprits as the new machine dangles from above in the hands of these fugitives." At this, the cameraman did a sweep of the gaping hole in both the floor and the ceiling before he returned to a close up of the anchorwoman. "A young woman was last seen chasing after the people in an effort to overcome the people's attempt of fleeing. It appears right now that they are making to the roof."

Alex and houndoom burst through the door of the upper-most floor. Flashes of red and blue fell over the twilight sky and painted their silhouettes. The girl jumped off her canine, jogging behind him and the two men. "Stop them, Doom!" Houndoom sped up to jump the thieves as the machine finally surfaced through the concrete like a fish out of the sea. It was raised on the four chords by a low-hovering helicopter. The whirlwind whipped the brunette's curls out of their bonds and surrounded her face. The men caught a ride on top of the cage like the woman had below, and climbed out of reach of the dog as he ran out of track due to the crumbling roof.

"…two helicopters hovering overhead and it appears there is no hope of recovering the machine now, with the police planted on ground dozens of stories below and the thieves making their getaway." Jackie had to yell into her microphone to hear herself over the buzz of the propellers roaring beyond their reach.

Alex frowned back at the woman. "Get outta here!" she bellowed back. She pulled back the glaring pup as she ran towards the ledge while enlarging another. "Hotshot, take flight and cut those cords!"

"One brave girl stands up against the group as a last stand with her dragon companion. What heroism from one so young!" The lens zoomed in to the red-skinned dragon beating his wings toward the retreating aircraft. One of the two men grabbed onto a ladder dropped by the other helicopter and swung onto it. The arm that he wasn't using to hang on threw out a pokeball in the path of Alex's.

"And one of them retaliates back! What will our heroin do now?"

Alex ignored the annoying woman and focused on the metal-armored pokemon spreading its wings, and her charizard that had narrowly intercepted the helicopter and slashed through the thick ropes with metallic glowing wings, making a wide circle to turn back.

The Kendrick's machine plummeted out of the sky, far away from the edge of the roof. The dragon backtracked to seize the quickly dropping object, only to be rammed in the side with the blunt edge of a metal wing. A smaller pokemon materialized on top of the barred box, and in an instant both were gone again.

"Charizard, you okay buddy?" Alex asked with concern as the dragon straightened out and faced its attacker. He roared in response. "Okay good," she breathed. Her brown eyes hooded as the second helicopter lowered, sending a downwind at her. She pressed the balls of her bare feet into the railing she was standing on to avoid being propelled off. She was met with the same cocky smirk and concealed appearance that turned up while she was sleeping. He reached out a large, gloved hand towards her cheek, and then stopped, turning his palm upward and lowering it slowly.

"Come," demanded his gruff voice. "There's no need to fight."

The layers of sheen turquoise material flared out the skirt of her dress. She shuffled a foot back, the middle meeting the ledge. Her frown deepened. While standing on the border of the building, she could see the entire, lit up city, the white waning moon, the reflective water surface, and the specks standing in the glow of the police cars. Her eyes met where his would be if the obstructing lid of his fedora weren't intruding. Her slender hand twitched of its own accord, curving up towards his and hovered over it. If possible, the man's cheeks were overwhelmed by the enlarging grin. The brunette stood braced on the edge, hand poised as if they were still at the ball and the man was offering a dance, eyes glazed as if in a dream and she had no will or control.

What would she do?

To be continued…

* * *

AGHHHH! IT'S THE DREADED CLIFFHANGER! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Paul: Hey, idiot writer! Why aren't I in this chapter?

Piano-girl: *Shrugs* I dunno. Guess you were off sulking in an emo-corner somewhere while Alex was being hit on by a totally hot rich guy and and old, creepy stalker dude.

Paul: ...Ursauring, use hammer arm!

Piano-girl: T.T Paul~y, you big meanie! D'aw, I love ya anyways! Wave buh-bye to the viewers, Paul~y!

Paul: *Gives evil death glare of doom*

Piano-girl: Eheh, think I better run now...don't kill me! Dimentio, you know what to do!

Dimentio: *Slithers out from nowhere* The Adaptability Nucleofuser is a fictional device only. It can not heal/cure your sickness/illness or mental instabilities like the characters in this story. And kids, don't talk to or get in a stranger's helicoptor, even if they seem to know you or offer you any candy or sweet in general, especially if they're old, creepy stalker dudes. Also, it'd be nice for the readers to review. If not, you may be the next victim of the purple-haired emo-kid's evil death glare of doom...

That appears to be it. Ciao!


	33. Kendrick Corp Caper part III

**Pokémon**

*Emerges from piles and piles of homework* I'm alive! And I bear a new chapter! Please don't kill me; blame my teachers for being soul-less and not thinking that people actually have better things to do besides schoolwork out of school!

*Ahem* Anyhow, thanks for being patient. This is...a pretty long chapter I believe to make up for it... My bad. I MISSED YOU GUYS!

Thanks to you lovely people who read/favorited/alerted/reviewed. You make me smile :D MISSED YOU SO MUCH!

And again, my bad about the late-ness of it. Next semister is starting soon and it is (hopefully) a little lighter.

**Chapter # 33 – Kendrick Corp. Caper Part III**

_Recap:_

_He reached out a large, gloved hand towards her cheek, and then stopped, turning his palm upward and lowering it slowly. _

"_Come," demanded his gruff voice. "There's no need to fight."_

_The layers of sheen turquoise material flared out the skirt of her dress. She shuffled a foot back, the middle meeting the ledge. Her frown deepened. While standing on the border of the building, she could see the entire, lit up city, the white waning moon, the reflective water surface, and the specks standing in the glow of the police cars. Her eyes met where his would be if the obstructing lid of his fedora weren't intruding. Her slender hand twitched of its own accord, curving up towards his and hovered over it. If possible, the man's cheeks were overwhelmed by the enlarging grin. The brunette stood braced on the edge, hand poised as if they were still at the ball and the man was offering a dance, eyes glazed as if in a dream and she had no will or control._

_What would she do?_

"What are you doing? _What_ are you doing? _WHAT_ are you doing?" Gary Oak leaned towards the 2D film that was playing on the television, nose almost touching the screen. He gnawed at his fingernails in suspense, ankles crossed and knees bound by a tense arm. His eyes widened as the female was face to face with the sketchy man and shook his head furiously. "_NO_!"

He was delivered a blow to the head with a chopstick wielded by a graying professor in a white lab coat. "Get your head out of the way, I can't see what's happening!" he yelled at his grandson.

The brunette scooted back two or three spaces before rooting on the spot again. "Are you insane?" he screeched at the TV as they did a close up of the girl, looking around in bewilderment. "Get away from him! Creepy man is _too_ close! He's bursting your personal bubble. Personal Bubble! Hello, are you listening?"

Professor Oak sighed. _He_ couldn't see what the boy was watching. "Gary, I left for one minute and you changed it to some soap opera? Turn it back." The boy waved him off. The Professor shook his head, then stood as the phone began to ring. "Hello? Yeah, he's right here. Gary, phone," he called, handing the device to the transfixed boy.

"Hello?" Gary asked distractedly.

"_Are you watching Sinnoh Now! too?"_

"Ryan? Yeah, I am. What the hell is she doing?"

"_I don't knowwwww,"_ the girl's brother whined. _"I just got rid of Delia. Do you have any idea who that is?"_

"The creepy man? No. Alex! Lexi, don't you dare. Put your arm down! Put it…I said down! Down _now!_"

"…_Ow!"_ Ryan complained on the other end after flinching from the yell. _"You don't think she would…"_

"I don't know what she's thinking! She's gone crazy. Or suicidal. I bet it's the emo kid's fault. I knew he was bad news."

"_Excuse me? My sister is not suicidal. Maybe a little insane at times, but that's beside the point. Why isn't there anybody there helping her?"_

"…I'm coming Lexi!"

The line went dead.

Alex exhaled, patting the rough arm of her dragon. "Thanks, Hotshot." _Aaah-CHOO!_ She sniffled. "Great!" she said to herself exasperatedly. "Just what I need; I cold on top of everything else."

Dodging around the man's skarmory, charizard had swooped down and picked Alex up in his clawed arms. He deposited her on the roof of another high building, tilting into a turn and releasing a fiery breath towards its metal clad foe. It was sharply evaded.

The rope ladder dangled in the wind, the black figure standing a bit off of the building's roof, yet still too close for comfort. "If that's the way you want it. It is very…disappointing." No grin could be seen in his face after the girl had been swept away.

Charizard, now quite put off by the man's attempts to take his trainer away, zeroed in on its opponent and took off in flight. He circled his prey before pouncing with claws out and white daggers unsheathed. The dragon seized the skarmory and bound it with heated fangs gnashing out.

With a sly twist of its neck, the silver warrior pecked the enraged creature's head like a woodpecker, slithering out of the hold without a scratch to be seen on its pristine metal coat. Opening its beak, it let out a cruel, cheery squawk, like a contemptuous guffaw. Then, the night glazing off its reflective wings, it carved a precise arc around its opponent and dealt a shock of darkness to the dragon's spine before it could register where the metal bird was going.

A fierce roar of pain and resistance thundered over the hums of the whirring propellers. The dragon's blood boiled like that of an active volcano, then regurgitated the burning mass out all at once, throwing his horned head about haphazardly to send it in all directions. And like an agile, deceptive snake, skarmory maneuvered around every boiling stream without a bat of the eye.

"You're charizard is a rather clumsy flier. It makes up for this with power." The man drifted farther away with the hovering of the helicopter, now several yards away, watching the aerial battle. "But power isn't everything if there isn't order or strategy with it."

"Shut up!" Alex growled with a glare. "Charizard, calm down. Use flamethrower again, but aim carefully!"

Skarmory effortlessly floated upward slightly as the blast scorched past. It's sharp beak opened as it screeched at the dragon. "All flying-type pokemon should be trained in the art of aerial battling. Your charizard is not. You haven't worked with its flying attacks and that will make it weak. Let me show you. Skarmory, sky attack!"

Despite the look of heaviness about the pokemon, it cut quickly and gracefully through the air with a powerful aura building around it as it sped up. Charizard beat its wings hard and reared back and up, looking like it would avoid the assault. Within a second, the metal pokemon drifted back on the dragon's course. Seeing the close proximity with no dodging time, the pokemon turning so half of its body took the attack. Skarmory followed through and circled its trainer.

"Charizard, are you okay?" Alex cried as her pokemon spread his wings and shot back up angrily with a large stream of flames flowing through the air, once again missing. "Calm down, bud."

"Hm-hm-hm. Temperamental, like any charizard I suppose. Mostly obedient, if only the trainer could better deal with this brawn, mold its abilities. You can tell so much about a pokemon by looking, you know. Did it injure its right wing? I notice it shields it. Doesn't have as much confidence as you think." The man chortled as flames licked past his head.

Skarmory zipped around charizard and slashed at it with the sharp tips of its wings, coming out unscathed and leading the dragon in a steady incline. Red brightened the sky every once in a while until they were touching the dark, wispy clouds high up.

"Can it do so well without you, though?"

Alex frowned. "Charizard, come back down now! Bring it to lower ground!" Her shouts were drowned out by the beats of the helicopter, causing the man to grin vehemently.

"It would be such a shame for anything to happen to it. Why don't you come with me and stop this foolishness. You know you want to." The ladder drew closer again, within arms reach. Alex wasn't falling for his nice act twice.

"Not a chance in hell. Charizard is strong."

The man's lips lowered from their upward curve. "This is very disappointing, Alex. You'll understand soon enough, I think. But you better get that _thing_ into better shape before that happens. I expect more of you." He held a hand in the air towards the quarreling two. Immediately, skarmory landed on charizard's back, digging its talons into the dragon's long neck, and capturing its right wing in its sharp teeth and holding. They did a nosedive, charizard thrashing and roaring in pain as gravity pulled them down.

"Hotshot!" Alex bellowed. In her eyes, it looked like a petrifying slow motion clip where she couldn't do anything but watch in horror. At the six-story mark below, the armored pokemon released its victim and whizzing readily back to its trainer. Charizard continued, a resounding _BOOM!_ pulsing through the brunette's ears as it cratered into the earth.

"I am sure I will see you soon, Alex. Hm-hm-hm, sweet dreams." He whispered on the wind as she was forced to watch her beloved dragon crater to the depths.

"Alex!" Kyler Kendrick shouted over the hustle and bustle of the shocked partygoers and news reporters. He weaved through the crowd, approaching the sheet-white and utterly tired looking brunette, his blue eyes both concerned and reproachful. "What were you thinking? You could've been hurt."

Coming out of a stare and squinting up at the tall male, Alex shook her head. "This was supposed to be a special night for your family. I can't believe this happened." She clutched her arms with a shudder. Her eyes darted erratically around the clump of people, as if looking for some other insane person threatening them, but settled on the distant fluorescent pink cross of the pokemon center, where her unconscious dragon had been rolled by gurney. She was asked to stay until the paramedics looked her over. They already had, but she wasn't sure she could walk all the way back across the bridge to her room without collapsing.

"Don't ever d-"

"Kyler!" "Kyler!" "Mr. Kendrick, were these the same people that targeted you fam-" "Did you recognize any-" "What is going to be done about-"

Alex instinctively moved to avoid being swallowed up by the media bubble the young Kendrick had attracted. Her mind was blank and buzzing with the periodic red and blue glares. She stood slightly off to the side in her own little world until she had enough energy and state of mind to walk back and curl up in bed.

She didn't know how long she stood there like that until a weight fell on her shoulder, shocking her. With a jump, the brunette jerked back as the pressure was applied on both her shoulders. After a few blinks, she was able to recognize the mop of purple hair and fierce black stare. "Oh, Paul…" she trailed off, looking down. A large purple garment draped over the skin that wasn't covered by her sleeveless gown, which was now wrecked and tattered near the bottom with dirt smudged on the beautiful fabric. "Thanks…" she muttered.

With a grunt, the purplette placed a hand on her back and pushed her along. Not that she needed much of a push, for she was relieved to be getting away from all those people. But now that she was moving, she noticed something.

"The ground's cold," she pouted, remembering she had ditched her heels in the ballroom. The thought made her giggle, causing Paul to give her one of those _she's-gone-bonkers_ looks. "I hope the maids won't mind." That only made her laugh more.

Paul led the girl to their room without too much trouble, except she still stifled a titter of laughter every few seconds. He watched the brunette shuffle along the floor once he had opened the door, and as soon as her leg hit the edge of the bed, she did a belly flop onto the mattress. After her body stopped bouncing, she shimmied up to her pillow and snuggled into it before finally growing still.

The boy sighed out, "She really has to stop talking to that crazy-ass cousin of mine," before he covered the chilled girl with an extra sheet and went to sleep himself.

* * *

Final word count of this chapter: 2000 exactly. Booyah!

Piano-girl: Awww, Paul's so sweet...in his own sort of way :3

Gary: I'm just glad that sketchy guy is gone. He gave me the creeps. And stay away from Lexi emo-kid!

Paul: *Super-evil-glare-of-DOOM!*

Piano-girl: ...Heh, scary! Well, Au revior, mes amis! Tah-tah. Don't forget that I do adore some feedback! I try not to be gone so long next time =.="


	34. Aftermath and Anger

**Pokémon**

Well, I'm back! And apparently getting a cold means I get rid of writers block, though I can't spell while I'm a school =.=" How does that make sense? Seriously, I crossed an 'S'. Oh well, at least you can't easily do that on a computer.

The whole Shadow ordeal has been very obscure until now, which was pretty much intended, but I'm hoping to clear it up for the most part in the next few future chapters. So, sit back, relax, and hope you enjoy he chapter.

**Chapter # 35 - Aftermath and Anger**

"Hmmmm," Alex groaned, sitting up slowly in a zombie-like fashion. Glazed eyes did a full glance of the room. They fell on the ocean of light blue material swimming around her as the sheet bunched at her waist.

"Finally woke up?"

Frowning at the voice from the bathroom door, then at the clock, she shrugged. "It's not that late," she croaked. She immediately reached for a stashed water bottle in her backpack, glowering at the smirking purplette. "Shut up."

"Whatever," Paul shrugged with a small grin remaining, turning and shutting the bathroom door behind him.

Alex shook her head, her arms feeling somewhat stiff and sore. As she moved to replace her water bottle, she noticed a bizarre white paper protruding from her unzipped backpack. She plucked it out in curiosity, reading the typed scrawl reading _SHADOW_ on the back of what turned out to be an envelope.

"How strange…" Alex frowned, flipping the letter around in her hands, her fingers tracing the name and the small _SS_ stamped in the top right hand corner. The more she thought about it, the more she could have sworn there had been two voices in the early morning telling her to wake up, shaking her roughly. It must have been people from the Soul Salvation that snuck in while Paul was doing some early morning training, meaning they left the note when she didn't wake up.

_Click!_ The bathroom door's lock alarmed the brunette. She gazed at it quickly while shoving the letter back into the darkness of her bag before Paul could question her on it. With both hands, she ripped the zippers up to conceal the letter just as he reentered the room.

Paul heard the hurried zip and slightly restless expression on the girl's face as she whipped her head to face him. He quirked a brow at her. "What?"

"W-what? Nothing! Just waiting for you, nothing else," Alex yelped, grabbing the strap of her bag and rushing into the bathroom and slammed the door, securely locking it. She breathed, thinking it was best to wait and read the letter later when Paul wouldn't be so suspicious.

After deeming herself presentable in a lazy, thrown-on outfit and a messy bun pinning the sagged curls up on her head, the brunette dragged her sore feet out of the room and down the hallway until she met the disturbingly joyful Joy, who she recalled had told her the evening prior that the dragon received minimal injuries by somehow decelerating in his downfall. Alex frowned at the thought, thinking the man and his skarmory had planned this to taunt them. They wanted a rematch, after all.

"Ah, Alex. Would you mind helping us with your charizard? He won't let anybody get near him," stated the pink-haired woman with worry.

"Yeah," Alex sighed. "He has always hated Pokemon Centers."

She followed the jovial nurse around back and down a long hallway with big glass windows overlooking the patient rooms. Paul fell into step with her, likely coming out of curiosity. The door was open by Nurse Joy, showing a startled chansey huddled in the corner with a bubbling liquid mixture oozing on the tiles, black smoke rising steadily.

"Hotshot!" the brunette scolded, placing her hands on her hips. "How do you expect to get better if you don't let Nurse Joy take care of you? You don't want be forcibly knocked out again like last time, do you?"

A low roar, like a whine from a puppy, rumbled from the large beast. He was spread on his belly on a metal slab, one wing tucked in close to his spine while the other drooped by his side. His ruby eyes shone pathetically at his trainer.

"Don't you give me that look, mister! Now lay still like a good little dragon," she demanded, patting his head while glaring at Paul who snorted at the comment. The brunette looked over her shoulder at Joy as if to say '_now what?'_

Observing the clipboard that had been clutched to her chest, the nurse said, "I noticed that the wing that had previously been broken has gotten dislocated, so that will have to be set. I would also like to do some blood tests, just to be sure everything's fine."

Charizard snarled at the woman, causing the woman to shrink back behind Paul, who remained in the doorway up to that point. He wasn't stupid enough to anger the pokemon that showed obvious dislike for him. The dragon got a light tap on the snout by his trainer. The fangs were temporarily re-sheathed.

"Okay everyone, I need your help!" Alex called, releasing the pokeballs clipped to her belt. She noticed her dragon giving her a sulky, traitorous look and returned it with a pointed glare. "You know we have to do this, buddy. Alright everyone, positions!"

Eevee to one of charizard's curled front claws and stood on it using her forepaws, wagging her bushy tail cutely while beckoning totodile, marowak and riolu to do the same. The small Aura mimicked the fox after prancing over the dragon's skull to her side. Luckily, he managed to avoid the snap of the creature's jaws with a push from marowak. The hyperactive crocodile jumped and sat upon the other front claw, stopping the squirming appendage. Dragonair and houndoom both covered all of the dragon's hindquarters, dragonair strapping his torso just under the wings and houndoom on the strong, fire-wielding tail and legs. Alex held the snout, standing slightly off to the side for her own protection.

"Okay, we're ready," the brunette informed the nurse and her assistant.

The pink duo scurried over, chansey holding the uninjured wing while Nurse Joy gently took hold of the other and braced her hand on charizard's spine where the back of the wing attached. A growl of protest vibrated through the table. With a loud, abrupt crack, smoke billowed through the room as the dragon roared. Its mouth entrapped the flames of wrath, but he was still able to snort out his rage with a blackened haze. After a few seconds with everyone coughing the fumes, the room cleared to a watery eyed red dragon.

"Don't you feel better now?" Alex cooed, patting the rough scales on top of charizard's head. The creature gave her a low moan, nuzzling her hand.

"Lovely, now all we need is the blood test-"

The ruby orbs flared open and the struggling commenced with more vigor. "Oh, come on, Hotshot! It's just a tiny needle! Don't be a baby!" Alex pleaded with him.

Charizard wouldn't listen, just continued to free himself, show everyone that he was absolutely fine and that no needles were necessary. But as he was about to break loose of the many constraints, a tiny paw touched his nose. He watched Aura, somehow feeling calmer while looking in the big, innocent eyes.

"Relax, charizard. It's just a small little needle, see?" Nurse Joy stated, turning away from the table to produce a regular looking needle, but it must have looked murderous to the dragon.

Charizard's calming body tensed up all over again. His narrow eyes dilated and widened at the gleaming sharp end of the instrument. He whipped his head quickly from left to right, throwing Alex onto her behind with a startled yelp. The groups on his hands toppled off next from the flailing, but dragonair and houndoom efficiently pinned the dragon's hind end from squirming away. This only led to a red blaze to light up in the dragon's wide-open mouth. With a shriek of "Fire in the hole!" Alex scrambled to another part of the room that wasn't about to be scorched. But the flame went dead. With drooping eyes, the red beast slouched over on the spot and went limp.

"Chansey!" huffed the pink ball in satisfaction, an anesthetic poised in hand. With an annoyed look at the group, the normally cheerful pokemon pointed to the door as a sign to get out, more needles gathered in the other hand.

"Everybody return," squeaked Alex, pulling Paul out of the room before they found themselves knocked out beside the latrophobic dragon.

Nurse Joy was right behind the two, leaving the rest of charizard's treatment to her assistant. She gave the brunette a weak smile as they reached her desk. "I'm terribly sorry. Unfortunately, that was a very strong anesthetic and it will take a while for your charizard to reawaken. You could check out Iron Island in the meantime. There are a lot of interesting pokemon there."

At the sound of 'interesting pokemon', Paul turned the tables and dragged Alex out of the center with her heaving a sigh and replying, "Will do. Thanks, Nurse Joy. Sorry for the trouble."

After they were out of the doors Alex was allowed to walk of her own free will once again. She sighed, glancing back at the pink-roofed building and couldn't help but think about what the hooded figure from the night before had said.

_'Is he right? Am I out of touch with my pokemon? I mean, sure charizard wasn't with me most of the time in Hoenn, and I haven't spent as much time with them since I started traveling with Paul because he doesn't let his pokemon out, but does that really mean that I've lost the bond I've had with him? Should I have worked on Hotshot's flying more? That bastard might have actually been-'_

"What do you mean the ferry has left?"

Alex blinked back to focus to a rather irritated Paul up in some poor fisherman's startled face.

"I-it left early this morning since there were so many people waiting. That's what I heard," the fisherman hurriedly explained to the angered boy, eyes flickering back at Alex as if seeing if she would stop him.

Frowning, Alex said, "Paul, the ferry's gone. There's nothing we can do about that now so let's see what's going on around town." She noticed Paul hesitate, but back away from the man and off the docks. She smiled weakly at the fisherman and quickly apologized before running after Paul.

Alex had to try hard to keep her mind from wandering off of charizard and the man, and let eevee out onto her shoulder and riolu into her crossed arm to keep her company. Taking a good look around since last night, it was quite a difference from the previous day. "It's weird how barren the streets are now, isn't it?"

"Hn, less people to get in the way," Paul scoffed, closing his eyes since there was nothing to run into. He could feel the coffee-brown gaze settle on him and, being still rather peeved about the ferry, snapped, "What?"

"You didn't sleep well last night?" The brunette had been staring at the light purplish bruise under the boy's coal eyes, but averted her gaze after being caught. She knew she probably looked worse.

With a shrug, he replied, "How could I, you wouldn't lie still at all for half the night when you actually _did_ get back."

Biting her lip and clutching her arms closer to her, Alex remembered her long night running in a loop in her dreams; a constant gunshot crying out, complemented by the grinning lower half of the cloaked man and his incessant laughter harmonizing with it. Eevee jumped up on her shoulder and drew her back out of the loop, earning a smile.

With an inaudible sigh that followed the girl's silence and darkened aura, Paul knew he said the wrong thing. He crossed his arms uncomfortably. "You haven't eaten since early last night." It wasn't a question. Too much had happened last night for a proper meal and she had slept through breakfast. So Paul silently led the wallowing brunette to a nearby fast-food place, and Alex followed with no complaints.

Alex was somewhat touched that the seemingly careless purplette showed some concern and felt slightly better when the lovely aroma of food wafted in the cozy, old-fashioned building. Even eevee and riolu sniffed at the air. She slid in opposite to where Paul had plopped himself in a booth, smiling at him.

"Hello, I'm Judy and I'll be your waitress today!" a plump, redheaded lady said with a crooked smile on her ruby lips. She looked back and forth between the two, her smile widening by the second. "Well, aren't you two are just most adorable couple I've seen in the longest time!" she gushed, pushing menus towards them both. "But honey, we got to fatten you up just a li'l bit," she winked to Alex.

Alex choked, reddening slightly with a glance over to Paul, who was hidden by the menu but appeared impervious. "W-well, thank you, but we're not…dating," she told the lady, scratching her cheek. _'Why am I getting so worked up?'_ she thought, looking at the calm purplette.

"Oh," Judy looked flabbergasted, once again glancing between the two. Her slanted, beaming smile returned a second later with a wave of her hand. "Pish-posh, whatever you say, honey," her heavily mascara-ed eye winked at the brunette again as she pranced away. "I'll be back in a few minutes to take your order~!" she sang.

"Eh," Alex shook her head at the retreating woman. With another glance at the expressionless Paul out of the corner of her eye, she turned to her small pokemon on the table and watched them talk as they observed things beyond the clear pane of glass. Such as a large wagon containing caged pokemon, including what looked to be big red dragon, zipping past.

…Wait a minute…

Alex, eevee and riolu simultaneously let their heads cock to the right. "Okay, someone other then me just saw that, right? It wasn't just some hallucination my brain conjured up?"

Paul finally lifted his gaze from the menu, giving the brunette a questioning frown, looking out the window at the nothingness the trio was starting at.

"Eii!" the fox nodded in confirmation, scampering across the table and jumping off with her trainer hot on her tail and riolu in her arms.

"Where are you going?" Paul demanded. He nearly collided with Alex as she had stalled in the doorway, staring at the black haze surrounding the Pokemon Center, the fluorescent pink cross blipping spasmodically. The wailing of a siren hurried to the building.

Now with a definite reason to panic, Alex exclaimed, "Oh no. No, no, no, no, somebody has Hotshot!" She cursed, raking a hand through her hair. Her frantic stare surveyed the direction the wagon had been heading.

The forest.

"Okay, Doom, I need your help!" The black and red canine appeared amidst the glare, sitting lazily in front of her. "Listen Doom, Hotshot and a bunch of pokemon have been kidnapped and were headed that way. Do you think you can track them?"

Rising to all fours, houndoom sniffed at the breeze and then pressed his snout to the ground. "Grrruf!" he barked, taking off on a run.

"Let's go!" Alex yelled in a battle cry, sprinting to catch up with her pup.

Paul wondered how he managed to get dragged into these situations, but went after the fiery girl and her group.

The limits of Canalave City were bordered by thick greenery, drooping and crooked from the storms brought in by the sea surrounding them. There was a slightly beaten path padded down in the rough terrain, which is where houndoom jogged along with his nose gliding over large burrowing roots and under downward-swooping branches.

"These people were smart, hitting a Pokemon Center from a city that had just witnessed a disaster and had lost of injured pokemon," the brunette grumbled. Glad she had worn something comfortable, Alex was relatively able to keep pace beside houndoom, catching small fragments of skid marks from the large automobile swerving to avoid hitting thick bushes and branches or other obstacles. "They must have some sort of alternate transportation hidden near the cliffs. We must be pretty close now," she stated with deep breaths as she trekked up yet another hill.

She was right. They were deep in the forest by this time, pushed by adrenalin and the fear of losing her precious dragon, she pushed through the thickets to confront the retched dragon-nappers. She could hear them pretty clearly even before she saw them, having a good idea of who these culprits were.

"_Gaaahaha! We sure got a load of strong pokemon here!"_

_"You betcha! Now we'll definitely be the strongest trainers around! Nobody will be able to stop us! Hah! Stupid Pokemon Center doesn't know what hit 'em!"_

Gritting her teeth, Alex pulled up beside houndoom and swatted through the last patch of branches and leaves to an area overlooking a high cliff. She knew the voices had sounded rather familiar. It turned out to be the punks from the island, Chris and Chad, the ones Xena and herself had swiped a map off of and wiped out in the first battle round on the island.

"Stop it _right_ there!" "Eiiie!" "Riooo!" "Grr-uph!" Alex and her sidekicks demanded fiercely, the girl flourishing her finger at the duo. Her eye twitched.

Alex. Was…Confused. Rather pissed off, but extremely and ultimately confused.

Paul growled, swatting greenery away from him as he finally caught up with the ambitious brunette and her brigade. He raised an _'are-you-an-idiot'_ brow at the large caravan and wagon with a few pokemon in cages and a brimming bag of pokeballs parked sloppily along the cliff side, an inert and snoring charizard among them. Well, he supposed that meant the girl wasn't totally crazy. Though, he noticed something odd, and so did she judging by her expression. "How the hell were you planning on getting all of these pokemon off the island?"

Coming off of their _'oh-shit'_ expressions, the haughty gangster and biker laughed. "We got _wheels _man, whatcha talking 'bout?" "Yeah, and there's nothing you can do to stop us. Unless ya wanna get run over." The two high-fived, smirking as though they were geniuses.

"…there are no words to describe such stupidity," Alex stated blankly, still not believing her eyes.

"Hey there, little girl. This is big man stuff we're talking here," the lanky gangster drawled belittlingly. "This plan can't fail. We already got the pokemon. Sure we didn't expect the police to come so fast and had to drive this way, but we can still drive around the border. So how's a little girl and her little boyfriend gonna stop us with all these strong pokemon we got here?"

Paul was not amused. "If you think you're so strong, let's have a battle," he suggested coldly, already set with an enlarged pokeball in hand.

"Hah, we'll show you your place little man," the gruff biker called giddily. Both he and his partner sent out a pokeball; a huge steelix and a buff machamp.

"Ursauring, take care of this," ordered the purplette, calling on the terrifying brown grizzly.

Alex patted her canine on the head, saying, "Doom, we need your help too."

To sum it up, the battle didn't last long. If you blinked you would have missed it. Paul sneered at the double one hit KO victims and the trainers that called them 'strong'. Not a single scratch lay upon the hide on the victorious ursauring and houndoom, though the canine hadn't had to move a muscle. Only a deep hole gaping in the ground in which the steel snake was coiled with the muscular pokemon passed out on top was left to prove there was a battle.

That ursauring had some real rage problems…

"H-how?" Chad mumbled, returning his machamp.

"Doesn't matter. We've got tons of strong pokemon here. Like…this here charizard," the biker smirked, opening the mouth of the cage where the dragon was sleeping.

Alex gritted her teeth, brown eyes hardening in a livid glare at the man who was going to try to use _her_ charizard against her. With a _bandage_ wrapped around its recovering wing and back, no less. Man these two were _stupid_.

"You're going to try to use an unconscious pokemon, one that probably won't listen to you anyway, and battle with it," the purplette stated for conformation. He crossed his arms over his chest. This almost wasn't worth the effort. Almost…except his female companion looked on the verge of blowing up at the dim-witted duo.

"Huh?" The brawny man peered into the cage. "Unconscious? Not fer long. Hey Chad, get a stick."

"Are you serious?" Alex demanded incredulously, watching the lean gangster swagger over with a long, spindly broken twig. She threw her hands up as they did, in fact, prod the rough scales of on the dragon's nose. "Whatever, it's your funeral."

"Hey, Chris, why won't the beastie wake up?"

"You ain't doin' it right! He can't feel it if you poke it, you gotta swat it!" The biker swiped the twig away, flicking it vertically down the middle of the fire-dragon's head. Fortunately for them, the red orbs didn't open for them.

"Oh, for goodness sakes!" Alex huffed, marching up to dumb and dumber, as she had now officially named them. "Give me that!" she roared, grabbing the stick from dumber's meaty hand and turning it against the both of them.

"Hey now girly!" Chris yelled as he caught her offending hands, making her drop her weapon. "That ain't very nice." He stepped forward, making her step back. "Don't get in our way. Or else."

"Yeah, or else," Chad snickered.

Paul growled, taking his fists out of his pockets only to notice he wasn't the only one to growl. He gave a surprised look behind the group to a very wide eyed, very fiery, and very angered dragon steping out of the opened cage with a loud _THUMP!_

The two males spun around at the sound. They laughed, still holding on to Alex. "Hey, lookie who finally decided to join us. I _told_ you swatting it would help."

"Whatever, just go get that stupid teddy bear and the pooch!" Chad barked, pointing at ursauring and houndoom.

Charizard didn't hear a word either of the two said, but he did see his trainer struggling against them. They had their _hands_ on his _trainer_? Two strange looking people who she didn't seem to like had the nerve to order _him_ to attack _her_ pokemon. Well, he may want to incinerate that ursauring whose trainer seemed to always be around, but they weren't the ones imposing on his trainer at the moment. And they would be taught a lesson.

With four shaking stomps, a shadow fell over dumb and dumber as they both smirked at the brunette, who was trying to free herself from the painful grip of the strong biker. She opened her eyes to meet the cream chest of the dragon, who took his clawed arms and lifted dumb and dumber by the backs of their trousers. Oh yes, he did remember the annoying prodding of the stick and the voices of the two.

"Guys," Alex gritted out, scowling at the two traumatized, dangling boys while rubbing the red handprints on her wrists, "I'd like you to meet Hotshot. Say hello to the beastie."

"B-but our plan can't fail!" Chad flailed midair, ripping his pants and falling to the ground. The gangster was quick to recover from the fall, hopping to his feet and taking off towards the truck. The engine purred to life.

So intent on the one that had gotten away, charizard lowered his claws to the ground and snarled at the man. He didn't notice he gave the biker a chance to run and he took it. The second door slammed at the engine revved with the vehicle and wagon spurting forward.

"Hahaha, maybe next time, losers! I told you this plan couldn't fail!" Chad shrieked with howling laughter out the open window, the truck speeding and bumping along the cliff side and out of sight.

Alex stopped houdoom, who had started to his feet to take off after it. "Don't bother, they'll run into Officer Jenny before they get far. How long do you think it will take them to realize they can't _drive_ off an island?"

Shaking his head, Paul returned the bored grizzly back to his pokeball. "Probably when they do a nose-dive off a dock and into water."

The girl had to nod with agreement, idly petting her protector's neck while he glowered at the spot where he could last see the truck, the dragon wishing he wasn't so weak from the drug surging though his bloodstream to produce a fire attack. "I suppose we should start heading back now. It's starting to get dark out."

"Whatever," Paul shoved his hands in his pockets, allowing the black canine and his trainer to take the lead so they didn't wander over a cliff or anything. Charizard was recalled back to his pokeball because of his injury, so he didn't have to watch his back. But there was something odd about the path that had guided them there. The purplette couldn't tell what it was. "Must be tired," he muttered without meaning to.

"You okay, Paul?"

He turned his head to see the brunette halted in her tracks and frowning with concern. She was worried about him? "Hn," he twisted his head away, continuing onward, "It's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Alex persisted, catching up to walk at his side.

Why was she so concerned with him? He watched her journey half dead on her feet after not getting enough sleep. She disappeared for nearly a month. She traipses off after robbers twice her size. Then she is the only one to ask if _he_ is okay?

Strange girl…

"Paul, what is- huh?"

Opening his eyes, the purplette was rather surprised to see they were back at the cliff were they had cornered the two idiots. The dog that had led them there had led them there again.

Alex kneeled down in front of her canine. "Uh, Doom? I said to take us back to the city."

"Ruff, grrr-uff uff!"

"…This doesn't look like the city to me." She received a blank glare from the black dog. "Alright, alright, let's try this again. Try to back-track the scent from here back to the city."

With a shrug, houndoom led them out of down the slightly beaten path with his snout perfectly glued to the ground this time.

And the next time.

Even closed his eyes the third.

Then Alex marked trees as they passed.

It still yeilded the same result.

"Not again!" Alex groaned, taking in the black skids on the cliff where the automobile had sped off, the large, round crater, and the salty breeze from the ocean. "What's going on? I was sure we didn't turn around this time!"

The boy glanced back at the opening in the brush. It seemed…blurry. Yes, definitely blurry. Maybe it wasn't just his fatigue? "Hey, does the road look…weird?" he asked gruffly, not daring to look to see if the brunette would give him a crazy look.

"…Sort of." Alex squinted at the forest. "It kind of looks…watery. Like it's not supposed to be there. …Is that what was bothering you earlier?"

"I guess you could say that. Ow, hey!" He leered at the girl, protecting his shoulder. "What was that for?"

"You should have said something!" Alex frowned at the stubborn boy, crossing her arms. "Maybe we wouldn't have ended up in the same spot five times." She sighed heavily, swinging her legs under her to sit on the smooth rocky landscape. Palms pressing to her eyes to quell an incoming headache, the girl vacantly declared, "I'm tired." Her stomach rumbled reminding her she _still_ hadn't eaten since the previous night. "And hungry."

"Hn, well if we can't get back then we'll have to camp here for the night," the purplette stated rather grumpily, slinging his the strap of his backpack over his head and dropping it beside her.

Nodding mutely, the rest of her seven pokemon were released from their pokeballs. She arose to her feet unsteadily, looking at the questioning Paul. "Hey, if there is something out there keeping us here, I think I stand a better chance with all of my pokemon thank you very much. Doom, Isis, come on, we're looking for firewood. Skull, Chomp and Aura, you go try to find some food. Hotshot…just, stay here and rest, all right, Buddy? Tempest, make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

Everybody nodded at his or her tasks, except for a brooding red dragon, who was being babysat by the elegant, snake-like, blue and white dragon. The groups split off, leaving an apathetic Paul blinking at the moody fire-dragon. With a sigh, he sat down and began to unpack his sleeping bag.

Alex tramped through the woods for the umpteenth time, though wandering slightly off track to gather chunks of dry wood for creating a campfire. She strapped some to the back of her strong houndoom as eevee bounded towards the next piece to pick up. They weren't too worried about getting lost, since everywhere they went it didn't seem to hard to find that single spot on the cliff.

"Eeeie!" the little fox chirped, head inclined to the high branches of a large tree that contained an abundance of wild apples.

"Wow, nice find, Isis," Alex praised, dropping her armful of wood to her feet. Her empty belly took top priority at the moment. "Can you use swift to get them down?"

Eevee happily flicked her fluffy brown tail, creating a flurry of golden stars that sliced the apples from the tree and made them rain to the ground. She helped gather them into a manageable pile by nudging them with her nose, being awarded by being treated to one of the sour-ish fruit.

"Let's take a rest, you guys. You must be as hungry as I am," Alex laughed, rolling her small fox one and her large dog three. Grabbing one for herself, she placed her butt on a sturdy remaining tree stump and shrugged off her bag. The zipper had come slightly undone, showing a corner of white.

'_The letter,'_ she thought, using her teeth to hold her precious food to pluck out the paper. She munched on the apple, turning the envelope to the front. "I can't believe I almost forgot about this," she muttered tensely, looking conspicuously around to see if any unwanted eyes were around. Of course there weren't, she was in the middle of nowhere. She placed a finger under the seal and tore it off, slipping the letter out of its confines. Her hand grabbed for a flashlight, as darkness was settling in, and flicked it on.

_Dear Shadow,_

_You have been left in the dark so far, being a new member of the Soul Salvation, but I believe you deserve to know the truth about what has been going on. Please understand that everything you read here is strictly confidential and put in your trust. Not many people in our organization have been briefed in this much detail._

_This is for your eyes and ears only._

_Five years ago, there was a major attack on the Kendrick Corp. Many did not know what might have been a target as it could have been any number of things, but was known by a few individuals. Most think that the perpetrators died that night, but that is also untrue. They struck again just last night, as you have seen, and they will strike again._

_I do not wish to disclose whom or what at this present time, however the people that work under him are known as The Avengers. You will find out what disasters will happen in the future if they are not stopped. As of now, we are under the impression they are in possession of the Adaptability Nucleofuser, a major part of their plan. Now, they will be in search of the keys to unlock the machine that was their target five years ago, after of which had been scattered. Our new mission will be to find these before they do._

_The House of Chaos has begun searching for clues as to the whereabouts of these keys, and the House of Phantoms have been asked to search the areas of interest. We believe one of these keys is in or close to Canalave City._

_I assure you that this is of utmost importance. A lot will be put in danger should The Avengers get everything they need to succeed in their plan. I hope you will continue to your cooperation with us in the search of these keys._

_We have our faith in you, Shadow, just like we did in your parents._

_Soul Salvation Boss_

Alex read the letter twice, the last sentence dozens of times. _Just like we did in your parents_. The words didn't want to sink into her brain. Nothing was making sense anymore. Her stomach churned and threatened to eject what little food she had that day. "W-what?" she whispered, holding the letter with shaking hands.

Snap!

Whipping her head in all directions at the ear-splitting noise within the silence, Alex stuffed the letter halfway down her bag and placed it safely on her back. Wide eyed, she and her pokemon were all at the ready. She placed a finger on her lips, telling them not to utter a sound as she quietly picked up a particularly hefty log from the woodpile. Several more snaps echoed, each one closer than the previous. Alex leaned up against the tree in which the figure should pass, readying her weapon. And as a twig snapped on the other side, she swung and landed a devastating hit.

The only question was, who was it?

* * *

Mwahaha, another cliff-hanger :3 My bad. I feel evil.

Uhm, I can't think of anything to say. Sorry about any spelling errors, I try my best I really do. But my head feels like it's inflating like a balloon so I might go take a nap and hope I feel better but keep the ideas coming. Wish me luck.

Review! Press the button, you know you wanna. Ciao!


	35. Night in the Neverending Woods

**Pokémon**

**Piano-girl:** Heyyyyy everybody! *Nervous grin*

**Paul:** *Eye twitches* Were the hell have you been?

**Piano-girl:**...Nooooowhere

**Paul:***Super-evil-death-glare-of-DOOM!*

**Xena:**Did somebody say Ver-BOOM?

**Piano-girl: ***Stares at Paul*...You wouldn't...

**Paul:** *Sticks Xena on Piano-girl*

**Piano-girl: **Noooo!Okay! It's not my fault, I swear to everything holy like chocolate cake and rainbows! It was the evil plot bunnies! They ran away and every time I tried to bring them back and type this chapter they would go all bunny-ninja like HI-YAHH and merrily hop away while I'm like NOOO I have to finish the chapterrrrr! T.T

**Paul:**...0.o

**Piano-girl:**Eh-heh...*pokes a disturbed Paul* Please enjoy the chapter?

Pleeeeease don't hate me! It's the evil bunnies!

**Chapter 36 -** **Night in the Neverending Woods**

The rapid snap of the sturdy piece of wood making contact with whatever or whoever was creeping around settled Alex quiet a bit, even more so as the dull _thunk_ of weight hitting the ground reassured her she was safe. She hadn't even realized she had closed her eyes until this point and curiously opened one to peek down at the lifeless human silhouette next to her feet. Tossing her weapon satisfactorily back to the pile, she poked the body and had no reaction.

The late dusk was casting bleak shadows everywhere on the dark bed of the forest. Alex once again picked her flashlight into her shaking palm and nervously spread some light on her attacker…or, the attacked really. She gasped. "GARY?" she shrieked, though it was pointless because he was knocked out. She got him _real_ good.

"Oh, shit!" she cursed, looking at the skin that had broken on his forehead and trailed down his cheek as she lifted his head. Eevee bounded beside her knees where she had collapsed from anxiety. "Dear god, Gary. What the freakin' hell?" she rubbed at her face, unconsciously rubbing blood on her brow. She ripped off the bottom of the tank top under her sweater to stench the bleeding as she came up with a plan.

"Okay, Isis and Doom, I need you to take as much of the wood as you can, just leave the apples 'cause the rest probably found something to eat, and go back to the campsite. See if you can get the fire started. I'll be there in a few minutes."

The black dog studied his trainer for a moment with his small, ruby orbs before nodding with a yip. He gathered a mouthful of wood to add to the ones on his back, his tiny, foxy companion picking up some smaller ones, and they took off.

The brunette frowned at the blood. She was never much for first aid, that was more of her brother, Ryan's thing. "Shit," she growled. The cloth was thoroughly soaked through with crimson so she tossed it away. Hitting herself in the forehead, adding more blood to her face, she swung her bag to the front. "I _have_ a first aid kit…somewhere." It actually was near in a front compartment, and soon, after rinsing the area with water and slopping dabbing it with disinfectant, she had mummified the upper portion of the brunette's spiky head with white gauze. She shrugged, tossing it back in her bag. It would do.

"Now we need to get you back to the camp," she muttered, fumbling around with her flashlight and the pokeballs attached to her friend's waist. "Aha!" she cheered, sending out the white sheen of the pokeball and greeted the huge, orange and black striped and bushy cream furred canine that appeared.

"Arcanine!" With a joyful bark, the pooch slammed his tail back and forth, happy to see her as well. "I need your help, we need to get Gary back to my campsite!" Alex explained with urgency. The firedog seemed to sense this and lowered his entire body to the ground while the brunette heaved her best friend up to his pokemon's back. "Goodness, Oak, you're _heavy_," she panted after finally getting him propped up. Luckily he was completely out or she would have paid for that. She slung her leg up and sat behind Gary with her arms around him to keep him onboard.

"Alright," the girl breathed, smudging her face yet again, "We need to go this way, Arcanine." She used the flashlight as a guide of direction. She leaned forward with her arms on either side of the unconscious body and secured herself in by grabbing a fistful of long fur as the canine lifted himself and hurtled gracefully as she directed. They hadn't wandered of too far, and made it back in less than five minutes.

Paul was befuddled when houndoom and eevee had turned up racing out of the woods without their trainer and feverishly began to prepare a fire with the wood they had lugged in. He helped them along since the once nice ocean breeze had turned into a biting chill, though he occasionally stared back at the trees. Her marowak, riolu, and totodile returned soon after with fish and a few varieties of berries, but there was still no sign of the brunette. Her pokemon didn't seem worried about going to find her, so he decided to wait and arrange the wood in a contained circle.

A few moments later, the muffled yet quick footfalls of a heavy pokemon disturbed the area near them. Charizard had lit the fire with his tail just before everyone turned to look. A canine near the size of a horse with two riders cleared the underbrush and landed right next to the fire.

"Ga-ruff!"

"Thanks, arcanine," stated Alex. She slid down the dog's side, then hefted her friend off and narrowly caught him under the arms. She caught the open-mouthed gape her purplette partner gave her, an extremely rare face for the boy which she would have found highly amusing at any other point in time. Instead, she snapped, "Give me a hand, will ya?"

Snapping out of it, Paul growled, "Whatever." A sleeping bag was flung at his head, and he rolled it out by the fire and unzipped it. Alex was struggling to drag the deadweight, so he ended up meeting her halfway and picking up his feet to tuck him in the fluffy, warm sleeping bag.

Coal eyes turned to the brunette who had an extremely bloody face and distressing eyes. "You hurt?

"Hm?" Alex ripped her eyes away from Gary with confusion, looking to her hands and noticing her black fingerless gloves coated with the thick crimson liquid and knew it must be covering her face. "No," she mumbled guiltily, though tried to smile as she added, "But just know that I have no control over what will happen to you if you ever sneak up on me again."

Paul hid a smirk as he bowed his head to look at the visible part of the boy, pretty much masked in white, absorbent material. He shook his head, moving to sit down on a log he rolled over to sit close to the fire. "You should clean up, you look worse than him."

Snorting, the brunette rubbed her face. "Gee, thanks. Hey, Chomp, come here a sec." She sat on the ground, near the fire but not too close, while waiting for the hyperactive blue crocodile to excitedly waddle over. She carefully removed her gloves, though blood smeared all over her hands anyway. She also tossed off her sweater, leaving her in what now was a ripped belly-shirt. "Right, douse me, Chomp," she ordered, closing her eyes and spreading her arms wide.

Alex had to hold in a screech as the icy gush splashed into her face, turning a ruddy brown as it ran down. Every inch of her was drenched, but totally clear of blood. She laughed giddily, wiping water out of her eyes and wringing her long hair. "Thanks, buddy."

The purplette rolled his eyes, though his sight caught on something that he hadn't noticed when he first met the girl, something that wasn't there before she started wearing gloves. "What happened to your hands?"

She blinked at the boy. Suddenly he was all questions? Holding her palms up in her lap, the white, jagged scars and a few burgundy scabs puckered the discolored skin. She didn't like looking at her hands anymore, since being placed in the secret room at the Soul Salvation. Curling her nose, she answered, "Scraped them on some rocks." Not a complete lie. The walls were made of rock.

Standing up with her waterlogged attire, she grabbed her backpack and said she was going to change. There were a lot of thick bushes around, so it wasn't necessary to go too far at all. She pulled on a pair of long pajama pants, a new tank and a jacket and returned to the crew. She noticed arcanine had stretched out next to his trainer, watching Paul out of the corner of his eye as the purplette cooked the plentiful amount of fish totodile had caught.

Taking a raw fish from Paul, she tossed it do the dog and sat down as it was gratefully gulped down. She sighed from the warmth that the orange glow spread across her damp skin. Her pokemon seemed to enjoy the fire as well, and she finally noticed Paul's pokemon were also among the group. They looked a bit confused and awkward sitting in a group near the comfy fire, not battling or training, but appeared content just the same.

"Why was the idiot in the woods?"

A slight frown crossed Alex's face at the name, but she shrugged it away since she knew Gary and Paul didn't seem to like each other too much. She responded with a confused, "I really don't know, I thought he was back in Kanto. I hope his bleeding has stopped, though, because if we can't get back tonight then he might be in trouble."

Charizard shuffled over weakly to Alex's right, his head on the ground in front of the blaze. It seems he used the last bit of his energy with the anger he felt at dumber and dumbest for threatening his trainer. He didn't even care that Paul was in the vicinity. He huffed and soaked in the heat as well. His features were still rather distressed, but that was mostly because he was drugged and injured.

"Aw, Hotshot," Alex sighed as her hand landed on the dragon's head. She always felt bad about his restlessness, knowing there wasn't much she could do. However, she did spot yellow pear-shaped sitrus berries among those her pokemon had collected, and plucked up a few. She pulled the hulls off of the two and offered it to charizard, who promptly curled his nose and turned his face away. "Come on, I know you hate them because they're not spicy but they'll make you feel better."

Watching inquisitively, Paul saw the dragon barely pull up his teeth in a snarl. Still, he opened his fanged mouth and ate one of the berries in one gulp with a cringe, then the second. The dragon never moved to show signs of more liveliness, but the flame on its tail grew bigger though not quite to its normal size. He looked at the berries and to his pokemon, who seemed to pick out which ones they liked better, some bickering for the last ones, or ate some of the raw fish.

Eevee and riolu both jumped onto Alex's lap, making her giggle. She sat them down in front of her, picking out a handful of tiny, pink, strawberry-like pecha berries for each, being sure to pull the stems off without breaking the tender skin of the fruit, and placing them down for them to nibble on. She also split a fish between the two of them before she herself began to eat.

It was quiet for a long time as everybody ate. Actually, everybody seemed in a rather dozy state. After eating, a lot of the pokemon curled up and went to sleep. Neither were sure, but both trainers thought the air smelled sweet, like it was coaxing them into closing their eyes. Alex was pretty much falling of the log before a pained moan filled her ears and brought sense back to her.

Flinging her eyes open, the worried girl leapt over to her awakening friend. "Oh thank god, I was starting to think I killed you," she said as she kneeled by the blue sleeping bag.

"You can't get rid of me _that_ easily," Gary replied as cockily as he could, though he was groggy and still somewhat dazed.

Alex shook her head with a grin playing on her lips, finding a bottle of water and forcing him to drink or she would dump the entire thing on his head. Color began to come back to what little portion she could see of his face, so she took that as a good sign. She also brought over some fish and berries to eat as she festered him with the questions that were bothering her, "What are you doing sneaking around the woods anyway? Did you come out here on a mission? Are there pokemon injured somewhere? Do you need any help?"

Laughing at the girl's fretful expression, Gary poked her forehead like he did when she rambled to make her shut up. "I came out here looking for you. Left during the middle of the newscast at the Kendrick ball when the creepy guy was all up in your face. Who was he, anyway?"

"Oh," Alex blinked stupidly. She didn't think that anybody from home would come _looking_ for her after that, but she supposed it was a surprise the whole gang wasn't there. Mrs. Ketchum was probably furious…

Looking over her shoulder, the girl noticed Paul had perked up and despite the fact that he pretended he wasn't listening, she could tell he had his ears strained toward them and watched them from the corner of his eye. Crinkling her nose, she whispered, "Can you walk? I need to talk to you."

Green eyes straying around his friend, Gary grinned as he finally noticed the emo-kid eavesdropping on their conversation. "Oh, I'm fine, little Lexi," he drawled as he shimmied out of his sleeping bag. He pet his arcanine, who had stirred when he did and turning to Alex. "What's up?"

"We're in a bit of a predicament. Come on, I'll show you," Alex stated eagerly, pulling her best friend by the wrist with the huge canine accompanying. "Isis, you're coming too. We'll be back in a few minutes, Paul." By that time, she was nearly jogging into the security of the trees and bushes, eyeing their tail to make sure nobody followed.

"Lex, what is this about?" the boy demanded apprehensively as they both stopped. He was gestured to sit down on a stump just off the slightly trampled path, but far enough from the campsite that they couldn't hear whispers on the breeze.

Sitting down beside him, Alex shuffled around her bag with her flashlight beaming into it. "Well, first of all we're kind of trapped in the forest, but I'll get to that in a few minutes." With a few crinkles, the envelope came loose and she shoved it at him along with the flashlight. "Read this," she ordered.

Gary frowned at her skeptically while he tugged the letter out before moving his gaze to the letter. As he read his eyes widened and drifted down the page again. "Wow…"

"Yeah," the girl confirmed drearily with a nod. She buried her face in her hands and mumbled, "I don't know what I'm doing anymore. Ryan and I thought that these people were the reason for our parents'…disappearance and we could get information from them, but now it sounds like they were working for them. But how did they get involved with this stupid organization?"

"If it makes you feel any better, they don't sound so bad compared to these…what were they…Avengers. And they can't be so bad if your parents were on their side."

Coffee orbs glaring up at him, Alex spat, "Well great, at least I'm following in the criminal family business." She sighed and continued, "So, now I can only assume that these Avengers are the people that I'm after, and after last night it seems like they're after me too, though I have no reason why. And the Soul Salvation might know more about our parents than Ryan and I had anticipated." She slumped forward, hugging her knees. "This is just so difficult. I'm so confused."

Placing the letter in her bag, Gary slumped with her. "So, what are you going to do? Is my little Lexi giving up?"

The brunette huffed. "No," she growled indignantly. "I guess my only choice is to keep helping the Soul Salvation until I find out what these Avengers are up to. Plus, I still might learn something from them. If our dad and Ry's mom were with them, then they can't be all bad, right?" she asked her confidant.

All he could give her was a shrug. "I don't know, Lex. But whatever you do, please be careful. Can't be loosing my little Lexi, now, can I?" He flashed her a small, crooked smile.

"You betcha, my favorite Gare-bear," she winked. "And, my bad on the whole knocking you out thing."

Chuckling, the boy waved it off saying, "I should have known better than to sneak up on you, Lex. This hasn't been the first time." He earned a childish sticking out of the tongue in response. "Besides, you never told me who stalker guy was."

"Arg!" Alex threw her hands up, gathering her bag back up. "I don't know, but he seems so familiar yet I don't remember ever seeing him before. It's so _aggravating_!" She decided against mentioning that the man greatly resembled the one in her nightmares, and stomped forward, nearly forgetting eevee was with her until she licked her cheek to calm Alex down. Easing her stride, she beckoned ahead of her. "No more talk about this, we're about to magically turn around and end up back at the campsite."

"The camp-?" Gary started, before recognizing the burning flame of their fire and emo-kid still sitting in front of it.

"Told ya, we're stuck in a loop," she told him as she walked past. Telling him about the stupid letter made her hungry again. She jumped over the log and sat, leaving room on the end for Gary.

"Hmm, sounds like some kind of hypnosis," the brunette declared factually, smirking at the glare from the other boy. "Hey there, emo-kid."

"Jackass," Paul grumbled loud enough for the other to hear.

Whacking her best friend on the back (for he had started it, and she would have hit the back of his head, but that seemed mean after knocking him unconscious, plus he was looking a little pale again), she plucked the fish Paul had been cooking out of his hand and took a big bite out of it. "That could be true, but I don't remember seeing any pokemon out in the woods." She expected to get snapped at for stealing the fish, but the purplette seemed oddly placid and allowed her finish it.

"Well, it could be hiding, though I don't know why it'd be keeping us here."

"Can we not talk about this tonight?" Alex questioned wearily, watching how all of the awake pokemon leered into the forest at the thought of a wild pokemon keeping them captive.

Nodding, the brunette glanced to his right. "How's charizard's wing?"

"All right. He's still angry about the battle with skarmory, and it looks like I'm going to have to work on some intense flying techniques with him." She smiled as the dragon grunted in his sleep at the mere mention of the name.

Gary turned to her and smirked. "I can help, if you want. I _am_ the grandson of Professor Oak, after all." He crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air to complete the statement.

This made the girl laugh. "Well, my first choice would have been Ry or the Professor himself, but I guess you'll have to do."

Gary playfully winced and put a hand to his heart. "Ouch." He rolled his eyes at her, making her laugh more. "What?"

"Here, you might want to fix the medical job I did to your head. It's hard to take you even remotely seriously when you look like that," she grinned mischievously, handing her injured friend the first aid kit and a compact mirror.

Blinking at his reflection, the boy felt along the width of cloth that wound around his upper lip and nose in bafflement. "Lexi, I thought all you hit was my head. Why is half my face covered?"

Alex shrugged unconcernedly. "You know I don't do first aid. Plus, there was blood running down your face and I didn't want to take time to wipe it up so I covered it instead." She stated it in the same matter-of-fact tone he had used earlier. It earned her an amused snort from Paul, to which she smiled at proudly.

It wasn't long after that the pull of sleep tugged on their subconscious once again. With a deep yawn, Alex barely managed to help Gary into his sleeping bag before carelessly rolling hers out beside him while still close to the fire and was out as soon as she lied down. Paul did the same, though not in such a drunkenly fashion, and looked at the eccentrically moving area of the woods as he drifted off.

* * *

_Snap!_

The female brunette was yet again startled awake by the sound of sneaking footsteps. She pressed her palm to her spinning head, not recalling ever getting into her sleeping bag. Both boys were still sound asleep on either side of her, and she decided that her overactive imagination made the sound up. Calming back down, Alex sank into her sleeping bag and closed her eyes.

"_Whoooooh!"_

Snapping straight up, Alex went bug-eyed at the haunting call echoing through the looping trees, illuminated by the dull red glow of the dying fire. The call shrieked through the night once more, verifying to her that she was not hearing things. Unwillingly ridding herself of her blanketed warmth, the brunette slung on her backpack, flicked the switch of her flashlight, and tucked another sturdy branch under her arm just in case. Taking a final glance back, she decided Paul would be annoyed with her if she woke him up so late for something as farfetched as a 'ghost call', and Gary didn't need to be wandering around with a possible concussion. With a pit of dread drilling into her stomach, Alex crawled along the darkness.

The girl loved nature and usually slept in the woods, sometimes lying awake and marveling at the shadows the night cast in the white moonlight. But not even the moon's light reached the depths of the forest and the trees curled and bent in ways that made her rethink the whole 'traveling alone' idea.

Beaming her man-made light in every possible direction, she couldn't find the source of the haunting calls. This frightened her more, since they might have been watching her and she didn't even have the protection or company of her pokemon anymore. It was like a horror movie where you're expecting something bad to happen, you're just not sure where it's coming from.

Alex finally stopped within a circle of trees, feeling like she had walked for too long and scratched her head while doing a sweep of the area. "Funny, I should have ended up back at the camp by now." Taking a step back to come back from the way she came, there was a sudden lightness as the ground collapsed under her foot. Her arms lashed out, dropping the wooden weapon down the long, abrupt black hole and nearly releasing the flashlight in her panic. Regardless, the black walls enveloped her sight and the sensation of falling took over her body.

Though this happened in many of her nightmares, she was sure this felt too real and screamed out like every other time. And this time, the sound actually made it past her lips. That was when she realized it wasn't a dream anymore, and screamed even louder with the loss of even semi-visibility and awaited to find the end of this black tunnel.

* * *

Um...Gary bashing anyone XP

I'm sorry Gary!

Anyhow...Happy Easter everyone! I give you all cyber-chocolate of the most delicious, chocolate-y variety.

...I shall catch those evil plot bunnies. I must plan big, BIG, EVILLL things!MWAhahaha...

**Dimentio:** *Blinks* Well, since my dear writer has gone slightly mad, I suppose it's my duty to see you all out until next time. Ciao!


	36. Underground Terror

**Pokémon**

Hello my darlings. Yes indeed, it is me with a new chapter! Yayyyy! Well, I was impressed at least, even if you aren't. I have three tests this week and I decided to write instead (okay, so maybe it wasn't that hard of a decision). Anywho, I thank you those of you who are still tuned in. I am highly considering revising the first...dozen or so chapters because my writing back then really bothers me, so if you see an update and no new chapter and are like "WTF?" then that might be an explination.

As always, I deeply apologize for any spelling/grammar mistakes. Seriously, they annoy me too and I try to exterminate them as soon as I catch them.

Other than that, enjoy!

**Chapter # 37 – Underground Terror**

Alex hesitantly opened her eyes, as though she was wincing against harsh sunlight though it was nearly pitch black. She wasn't sure what to think; she wasn't falling anymore, but she was lying on the ground without feeling any impact, even though the hole in which she'd fallen was now a tiny speck towering above her. Taking a deep breath, she hauled her upper body off of the rocks. So far so good, nothing hurt. The girl rolled onto her knees and attempted to gather her bearings.

A short ways away, a cylindrical white beam was spotlighted on the ragged, dark, rocky wall. It was her flashlight, which she must have released at some point during her fall and rolled to where it stood now. Shuffling ahead carefully on her hands and knees to avoid potentially tripping or otherwise injuring herself, the brunette grasped the light like a lifeline and bounced its ray all around.

The girl had fallen into what appeared to be an old cavern. The walls and floor were damp and cold, but the air was fresh. There were a few tunnels leading away from the chamber she was currently in, and she bet that at least one of them led out towards the cliffs and overlooked the sea.

"Oh bother," Alex huffed, spinning around in a circle, "Which way do I go?"

"_Whooooooh!"_

A shiver ran up the girl's spine. She wasn't usually scared of the whole supernatural business, but with a lack of pokemon to support her she felt rather exposed. The groan sounded from all angles, but she thought it echoed loudest off of the cave to her right, her flashlight illuminating its entrance. With a slight debate, her curiosity won over.

"Okay, Alex. Relax. There's a perfectly good explanation for all of this. You just have to find out what it is," the brunette assured herself as she crept down the wide passage.

"_Whooooooh!"_

Now caves were never really Alex's thing, for she felt it was like getting sucked into a dark, cold maze that you may never find your way out of and collapse without warning. She also especially didn't like them after what happened at the Soul Salvation and ripped up her hands. So with a new danger found within the dank expanse with no assistance in sight, it was just the apprehensive girl and her trusty old flashlight.

"Alex, you should have gone back and woken up Paul. Getting yelled at would have been considerably better than walking in the creepy, haunted cave alone. Or at least taken one of your pokemon with you. Told somebody where you were going, perhaps," she berated herself, pretty much hugging the wall. Now that she thought about it, hadn't she promised she'd tell Paul before she went off on her own little adventure again?

Well, looks like she would have gotten yelled at either way, depending if she got out of this mess alive or ended up a ghost like her haunting friend down here.

As Alex slowly walked down the seemingly endless channel, she noticed that the walls were gradually getting closer together, as well as the ceiling lowering as she wandered further in. It also was getting colder, so she assumed she was on the decline as well.

"_Whoooooh!"_

The cry was louder than the last, rumbling off the walls, though it still sounded stifled. Alex soon found out why as her light shone on a pile of boulders blocking the opening, which she had to crouch a bit to inspect.

"Maybe following the creepy noise wasn't the best idea," Alex mumbled. The boulders were packed in tight, leaving no room to squeeze through and making the girl pout. She had walked a long way just to come to a dead end, and she was too tired to try digging her way out. "Now what?" she huffed, plopping onto her behind only to shiver from the chill it gave her.

After settling down to ponder over her predicament, there was a nudging on her back near her neck. Eyes going wide, the brunette stopped breathing momentarily as something hairy rubbed up against her the bare skin just under her collar. Then, with a few hyperventilating gasps, Alex did what any girl would do in her situation and promptly screamed at the top of her lungs, standing and running in any possible direction while flinging her body about to get the offender off.

* * *

Coal eyes flew open, staring at the equally dark sky overhead. He wasn't sure why, but the purplette boy felt as though something was very wrong, though the rest of his mind was pulled toward sleep. With a violent shake of the head, he managed to wake up enough to look around in the faint glow of the coals leftover from the fire. His gaze lingered on the black sleeping bag for a couple of seconds before blearily realizing it was tossed open and nobody was there.

As far as he could tell in the dark the group of pokemon were still there, including the missing girl's team. But on another scan of the area, he observed the absence of the girl's backpack as well.

"She wouldn't be stupid enough to go anywhere without her pokemon," he growled, lying back down. He thought about that statement for a good minute, and with a scowl he gathered his backpack and returned half of his pokemon, magmortar, torterra and electabuzz, and laced up his shoes while all the while watching the hazy trees. He noticed the brunette boy moving restlessly in his sleeping bag, almost as if he was trying to wake up and couldn't. With an annoyed grunt, Paul stomped off into the forest.

Walking along for a while after having to dig a flashlight from his pack to navigate, Paul began to hiss the girl's name while searching within every shadow he passed. He had traveled down this same path too many times to believe he could get lost, but his surroundings, he found, began to muddle together. A crease grew along the purplette's brow as he squinted his eyes to clarify his vision, but it didn't help at all. Paul was getting fed up by now, and decided that the brunette might have turned up at the camp in his absence. With that conclusion, he turned and started his trek back.

"_Whooooooh!"_

Paul halted mid-step, whipping around with ferociousness and half expected to see the brunette smirking at him while peeking out from behind a tree. As such, he barked, "What the hell are you doing?" There was nobody there, however, and seemingly nobody around. There was just empty silence that answered him. He did complete scan of the area and came up with nothing. Guardedly, he walked forward again.

"_Whoooooh!"_

This time, Paul just kept walking as though it was just a light breeze rolling through. He stepped over a thick batch of the roots, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Why can't she just stay on the same track of mind for two seconds. Randomly wandering off for an evening stroll…idiot." The purplette muttered similar statements as he continued to trudge onward. That is, until a violent wind churned the air around him. He didn't dwell on it and continued on normally. "Why is it that whenever I follow her, something weird always happens?" he muttered. He was only stopped in his step when he turned to identify the source of a strange buzzing that swiftly commenced. The wind became so strong that the purplette was slammed down onto his back. His eyes were forced to shut, but as his body hit the ground it felt like he was being sucked down into quicksand instead of the forest floor sturdily supporting him.

The gust appeared to have blown over, allowing him to open his eyes again. The sky, which was dim before, was completely black now, and the once soft forest bed was solid and freezing cold. The chill that went through him was enough to completely wake him up, and he finally realized he wasn't lying in the woods anymore, but somewhere underground.

"AGGHHHHH! Get off! Get off! Get off! Ge-umph!"

Paul groaned as a weight tumbled on top of him. He recognized the voice the shrieks came from, which picked up again when the girl caught her breath as she sat up and vigorously whipped at her back and her hair.

"Get off," he stated to the girl sitting on his stomach, but she was in too much of a fit to notice. In the pitch dark, he blindly felt around the ground until he found his fallen flashlight and beamed it up at the girl, who promptly stopped and flinched away from the brightness.

"What the…?" Alex gasped, covering her eyes with her now bare arms. "W-who's there?"

"Get off," the un-amused voice under the ray of the flashlight demanded.

"Paul?" the brunette asked, confused. She put her hands down and felt clothe, realized the position she was in. With coloring cheeks, she squeaked and clumsily stood and grabbed the flashlight. She shook and rubbed at her neck with one hand. Her skin crawled with the feeling something was still there. She beamed the light on the discarded sweater. The brunette didn't pay any mind to the boy she had fell on as he slowly stood beside her, giving her the strangest stare he could muster, but when there was a twitch from under the garment she yelped, tossing the flashlight in the air and quickly ducked behind him.

Paul was somewhat bemused by the quivering girl latched on to the back of his sweatshirt. He managed to snatch up his light and beam it on the shuffling sweater, and decided to go and investigate. Not daring to go over, he noticed Alex hastily release him and take cover behind a medium-sized rock with the top of her head to her eyes barely peeking out. He shook his head, taking the clothing by a sleeve with Alex holding her breath in the corner. In a swift movement, he tossed it into the air, revealing the offending entity.

Alex, who hadn't had the willpower to look, had closed her eyes before she saw a thing. However, after hearing Paul snort and then gradually and bizarrely split into laughter, she peeked out from behind her rock to see the culprit while whispering, "Please don't be a spider."

It wasn't a spider.

It was a small, blue and black pup sitting inoffensively on the ground with wide, bewildered, watery orbs.

It was _her_ riolu.

"Oh my goodness!" the brunette gushed, rushing out of her hiding place. "Aura, what were you doing sleeping in my hood?" Alex scooped the tiny pokemon up into her arms and nuzzled his cheek. "You nearly gave me an heart attack."

Riolu picked up on the happiness radiating from the girl, squealing and hugging the trainer back. "Lu, riolu!"

Paul, who had gotten over the hilarity, gave the brunette a long, cold look that took her several seconds to catch on to. He grabbed the girl's shoulders and stared straight in her eyes as he asked, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Grinning rather sheepishly while hugging her newfound 'protection' of sorts, Alex replied, "Well, uh…well, you see…there was this strange noise coming from the woods and, well, I had to go check it out. Everyone else was sleeping and I didn't want to wake anybody up and I didn't think I'd be able to go very far seeing as we're kind of in a loop but then all on a sudden _BAM_ the ground crumbled out from under me and I ended up down here instead." She breathed. Once her explanation got going it, apparently, just couldn't stop.

"…" The purplette blinked down at her. "What kind of noise?"

"A…ghost noise," Alex flinched, not really wanting to see or hear the boy after she said it. He was, undoubtedly, wearing the expression he would stare down a lunatic with while wondering why somebody hadn't dropped her off in an insane asylum. She was somewhat hoping the haunting call would sound again to convince herself she wasn't crazy.

Paul didn't respond for a few moments, watching the girl who all of a sudden found avid appeal with the shoes on her feet that she couldn't even see in the darkness. "Where was it coming from?"

Brown orbs flickered back up in puzzlement. Was he…kidding? Did he actually believe her? Suddenly, she smirked shrewdly. "You heard it too, didn't you?" When he didn't answer, she knew she was spot on. With a shrug, she answered, "I followed it when I got down here, but the path was blocked off at the end. I'm sure one of the other tunnels will lead us to the cliffs below our camp."

"_Whoooooooooh!"_

Alex pursed her lips sourly. "Of course, there is that to deal with, also."

"Hn," the purplette beamed his flashlight around the dome-shaped room, revealing the many deep, dark passageways of the maze they had unwillingly been dropped into. With seemingly his 'Paul-senses' tingling, he chose a room at random and confidently followed his ray of light into it.

Alex gave a look to her pup, whispering, "I sure hope he knows what he's doing," before hurriedly following the retreating source of light down one of the frustratingly identical pathways.

Alex couldn't tell whether they were walking down the same chamber she had ventured down, for she followed by sound and wasn't sure how far she ran with her eyes closed. It was rocky and damp and cold and she just wanted out at this point. A frown drew on to her face with brows pushed together and she hugged her riolu closer to her.

"Paul, do you know where you're going?" she wondered aloud, expressing her impatience.

"Do you?" he retorted in the same tone.

With a huff of indignity, the brunette turned her head away from the boy. Only to come face-to-face of what should have been the dank, rugged wall. Only, it was not the wall her eyes met with.

What she was met with was a pair of large, triangular-shaped eyes with creepy, tiny black pupils. The wide mouth with purple teeth-like protrusions extended its malicious grin, and two violet, disembodied claws followed the spiky head through the wall.

"P-p-p…" Alex whimpered softly, attempting to scream the name of her companion. Instead, with the creature coming closer to her face, she let loose a scream and promptly fell on her butt.

Whipping around to see what all of the commotion was about, Paul flashed the beam on the shaking girl now unceremoniously sitting on the ground with her pokemon clinging to her jacket as she gaped at the wall. A bare wall.

The girl slowly craned her head to look at Paul, now staring at her blandly. Of course, as soon as he turned around the ghost had disappeared. But as he watched her, haunter materialized behind his back and soundlessly mocked her. Well, she would have none of that.

"Hey you!" she roared, leaping to her feet and giving chase to the ghost, who by this point had floated away into the shadows with a daunting smirk that made Alex fume. "Get back here and prove I'm not crazy, goddamnit!" she yelled, flinging out her arms as she ran blindly beyond the bounds of the flashlight.

Paul blinked at the now empty path, hearing the echo of the brunette shouts and footsteps pounding off the walls. The little riolu, who was distractedly placed on the ground by his possibly hallucinating trainer, now clung to his pant leg and nervously peeked down the black tunnel. With a sigh, Paul picked up the little pokemon into the curl of his arm while beaming his flashlight in the other and calmly sauntered after the girl.

"Your trainer is a crazy idiot, you know that?" he muttered to the pup.

The big, red orbs turned upward toward the purplette, the tiny black and blue head slowly turning back and forth to say 'no'. Feeling the aura of confusion rolling off the purple-headed trainer, riolu raised one of his front paws and pressed the soft pad on the boy's forehead.

In a flash like a camera taking pictures in rapid succession and him looking though the lens, Paul first saw his own back cast in shadows slightly ahead, then he was twisting to the right and a haunter unexpectedly emerged right in front of "his" face. He jumped, breaking the contact between himself and the pokemon. He frowned down at it.

"She was chasing after that haunter?" Riolu confirmed this with a troubled whine. "Idiot," he growled, ready to start off in pursuit of Alex, who was unarmed and blind against a spiteful ghost.

However, somebody had other intentions.

"Ri?" the black and blue creature said, the long teardrop-shaped protrusions whipping out as he quickly twisted his head as if detecting something. "Lu!" the pokemon shrieked suddenly.

Paul wasn't sure what was happening, but felt the impact of a strong force sending him a few feet back and sprawling to the ground. The flashlight was knocked from his hand and rolled away from him, yet managed to maintain its shining glow. He was momentarily stunned, flat out on his back and unable to move with the wind knocked out of him. He was about to curse at the brunette's seemingly innocent menace until a destructive, violet ball of energy as dark as the shadows hurtled overhead with a shockwave rippling close behind. It roared along its path until its cackling reverberation lingered no more.

The walls rumbled and splintered under the pressure, raining down fragments of sharp pebbles. The entire cave was now alive. The most damage was occurring in the direction in which the shadow ball had originated, cutting off the route Alex had just disappeared down. A barrier of rocks settled in an unsteady pyramid, exactly in the spot Paul had just been standing.

"Riii-luuuu! Riiii-luuuu!" called the small pup as he hopped out of the debris in search of his trainer.

Paul once again took the creature into his arms, giving the blockage a stare down. Or more precisely, what was on the other side. "Honestly, can't stay in the same place for two seconds," he sighed.

Though, riolu didn't pick up a particularly negative aura emanating from the boy.

* * *

Alex could only tell were she was going due to the fact that the silhouette of haunter's body seemed to glow. Still, it was unnerving moving so fast with disoriented senses, and as such her hands groped in front of her for something she could potentially run into. Her brown eyes narrowed, as the ghost was slowly getting further away from her.

She didn't know where the ghost was going, or if she really wanted to know (there could have been an army of them waiting for her, for goodness sake!), but the other option was to stop. Right there. In the middle of nowhere, underground. In the dark. All alone.

At least the ghost might have had some sense to where there was fresh air coming in.

So she trailed behind the levitating outline, stumbling and weaving about the many corridors in the cave. The ground was horribly uneven, it was a miracle in itself that she didn't fall flat on her face and lose the ghost by accident. But she was rewarded when a faint blueish glow beckoned her through a smaller opening in the distance. It wasn't natural light, but at the moment she didn't care.

Alex clumsily lurched though the low opening, tripping over the uneven flooring just in time for an electrifying mass to soar inches from her skin, making her hair stand on end. She yelped, ducking and covering as tremors wracked the cavern. It was a couple of minutes until they died down. Now, she was in a sealed-off room with a psycho ghost.

Lovely.

"Miss?" A coffee orb chanced to peek up. Then the second in disbelief. A ruby gem glistened eerily from the levitating body of a small, teal figure with waving hair and tips of lavender. The form of a dress-shaped body floated over her head, tugging at her brown bun before settling on the girl's head.

"Misdreavus?" Alex questioned, her brown orbs rolling up as far as they could in their sockets. A lock of hair was tugged in conformation.

She then scanned the dimly tinted room they were now trapped in, noting the lack of a certain menacing ghost with disembodied parts. "Did you scare off the haunter by using shadow ball?" the brunette whispered to her new companion. Another tug.

Misdreavus ascended off the girl's head and began to float away to the center of the dome-shaped room. It landed on a rather large object, turning to face her. Alex hadn't paid it much attention at first glance. The bit of bluish-purple light seemed to linger along the border on the room, hiding the center in darkness. She mistook the object as a bolder at first, but now could see that what the ghost sat on held more of a square shape. The teal ghost let out a trembling whine at the dazed trainer.

"_Whoooooh."_

The brown-eyed girl blinked, a shiver running up her spine from the sound. "It was you? You were calling for me? But why?" She crossed the distance to the shadow-encased box with hesitant steps. She watched the ghost closely as she approached. The box, it turned out, was more of a cage with a solid top and base with thick, vertical bars in between. She attempted to look through the gaps and gasped. Inside was the bulky, complex assembling of steel and intricate buttons and switches that had been airlifted and stolen from the Kendrick's gala.

"You…you saved the Adaptability Nucleofuser last night. You teleported it to safety so _they_ wouldn't get it. But you couldn't get it back to the Soul Salvation for some reason…" She then took notice to how tired the small ghost looked and her eyes softened. "Because you were attacked by that haunter, right? But why? It looks like the one I met in the House of Phantoms. It belongs to Grim, doesn't it?"

"Missss," misdreavus hissed, rising up off the box to glare over the girl's head.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?"

Alex shot around, scared to death as a boy not much older than herself leaned up against the rugged cavern wall. She knew he wasn't there earlier, but the room was also seemingly closed off. The strange glow of light only added to the boy's dark, purple-tinted hair fluffed up in short spikes in the back with three curved strands falling in front of his face that resembled the claw of a haunter. Speaking of the ghost, it surfaced out of the wall beside the boy, both with huge, identical grins.

"W-who are you?" demanded Alex, wincing as she stuttered. You couldn't blame her, really. She just _really_ wanted out of the stupid cave.

Two luminous, lime green eyes flashed open to greet her, thin, pale lips lifting higher on his cheeks until they nearly reached his ears. "I believe I asked you first. However, you wouldn't happen to be Alex, would you?" Yet again, his deranged grin intensified if at all possible, as he observed the brunette take a defensive step back. "Ah, I _am_ correct. How wonderful. Master would be very happy if I brought both the machine and you to him. My name is Gabriel."

"M-m-master?" Alex squeaked. _'Get a hold of yourself, Alex. Stop whimpering like a little girl,'_ she scolded herself. The way the boy looked at her as if she were some sort of new, shiny toy unnerved her, to the point it evoked some of her courage. With a stony visage, she stated, "Too bad I'm not going to let either of those things happen. Missy, shadow ball!"

"Miss!" A sparking, violet sphere enlarged in front of misdreavus' form. With a cry, it was shot at the duo, causing them to separate to avoid being hit. The ball dissipated as it struck the wall, leaving a large hole. The cave shuddered along with the impact, but settled once again.

The larger ghost let out a shrill "Ha-ha-haun-ter!" as his trainer's eyes glowed in delight. "Hm, Ty was correct when he said you were a feisty one. Haunter, try not to damage her too much."

Another round of earsplitting guffaws surged from the gaping mouth of haunter. Its unattached claws curled towards each other, forming a dark, oily orb. Pushing its palms out, the orb transformed into a thick torrent of slicing black disks traveling through a stream of purple.

With a yelp, Alex stumbled back and ducked. Instead of a focused strike, haunter moved its hands and rotated its body to follow Alex as she struggled to keep ahead of the force tearing through the wall behind her. She was able to breathe again once the ghost ran out of firepower, the rubble clearing with a cool breeze that the brunette eagerly sniffed in, glad for the fresh air. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the moon and the stars and the silvery water crashing miles below.

"Miiiiis!" the small, girl-like ghost cried.

"Missy!" Alex gasped. Her companion was resisting the unyielding hold of a large claw strangling her tiny frame. Her gaze narrowed on the boy whom the captor levitated by, standing smugly alongside the crate. "Let her go," she ordered firmly.

"Sure," Gabriel shrugged, eyes still smoldering intensely in the dark.

Taken aback, the brunette said, "Really?"

"Hm, sure. If you'll agree to come back with us."

Alex growled. She knew that seemed too easy. Her right hand swiped at the band of her pants to unlatch a shrunken red and white pokeball. "Shit," she cursed, picturing her pokemon sleeping soundly next to a dwindling fire… What possessed her follow the noise again? Her head hung low, defeated.

"Very good," the male whispered, and it finally revealed the tinge of malice entwined in the boy's words. "Haunter, get the machine." His pokemon let its fainted captive fall to the ground, using psychic powers to lift the heavy crate. Meanwhile the boy sauntered soundlessly toward the peeved brunette. "This way." He laid a cold, feathery hand on her back, telling her to move forward.

Brown orbs took a longing glance back at misdreavus still collapsed on the dank ground. The pressure on her back froze through her layers of clothes and raised goosebumps on her skin. The hand pressed her to balance across the crumbled rocks the few steps to the edge of the long drop.

Her attention was soon seized by a slick black aircraft hovering not a meter from the cliffs with tinted windows. It was the size of a small, two-seater car, but apparently strong enough to support the electronic and steel box that soon dangled by 4 broad supports.

"In you go," Gabriel said with sardonic joy, waving to a leather seat that appeared as the entire roof of the vehicle popped open.

It was then Alex realized that the letter the Soul Salvation sent her was a warning. She was in too deep. They know who she is now. That if she were to be seen by these _Avengers_ then she would end up like her parents. Lost, forgotten in an abyss of darkness like the dark capsule of the vehicle. Never to be heard of again.

'_You just _had_ to go follow the noise.'_ The threatening presence of haunter loomed at her side, claws curling and reaching dishearteningly. With a deep breathe, Alex placed one of her battered black sneakers on the ledge of the car.

* * *

Woah! Literally a cliffhanger XP

As always, if you wanna drop a note in the review box that would be lovely. Thanks for reading. I'm going to go fail my math test now, so if you'll excuse me I'll be off!

Ciao!


	37. Not Your Typical Hero

**Pokémon**

Okay, first of all I sincerely apologize that it has been over two months for this update, but I'm sure you all know how busy the end of the school year can be. I spent 1 month crying about the provincial math 12 ADVANCED exam (thinking why the hell did I take ADVANCED?) and all the other exams and then I just went took a break and did nothing for a few weeks. XP

But now, I am back! And I'm on VACATION! (Yayy!) So I hope you like since it was a long time coming. And I hope people are still reading after all this time... Thanks to all that still are reading, anyway!

**Chapter #37 – Not Your Typical Hero**

Last time on _Off to Sinnoh!:_

_After following a ghostly noise singing through the darkness of the night, Alex found herself deep in a cave._ _Separated from Paul and all of her pokemon, she found misdreavus, an old friend, who had led her there so she could protect the missing Adaptability Nucleofuser. From who? A ghostly boy named Gabriel and his haunter. But now, she finds herself being kidnapped by the individuals, along with the machine and forced to leave her unconscious ghost behind, helpless to resist._

With a battered shoe on the side of the dark vehicle, Alex's mind was rushing with ideas of how she could escape. It was pointless, for there was no way she could single handedly break away from them. She rather felt like one of those ditzy girls you would see in a horror film who goes running after some creepy noise with no weapon or anything to protect them; the ones you want to scream at and say, "You stupid ditz, run away!"

Yeah, she was pretty much that girl.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded, now trying to stall for as much time as she could.

"To our hideout, of course. There are a lot of people who want to meet you." Gabriel chuckled as he felt her shiver.

Well, since she was the damsel in distress, she might as well say the old cliché line. "You'll never get away with this!"

"Oh yeah? Who's going to stop me?"

_BOOM!_

The far end of the small cavern was abruptly demolished in a gust of smoke and dust. It quickly dissipated through the gaping mouth along the side of the cliffs and left everybody's visibility momentarily disabled. As the haze cleared, a shaggy-haired figure showed through, staring at a miniature creature holding an outstretched palm.

"Paul! Aura!" Alex shouted gratefully, barely getting it out before she was shoved into the hovercraft in front of her. "Pffft," she spluttered, head smushed against the leather of the drivers seat. The rest of her body was half on the passenger side and half outside the aircraft. "Goddammit!" she huffed, feeling the weight of another body added on her.

"Haunter, take care of the brat until we get away," demanded the ghost trainer, shifting the vehicle into gear, which dug into Alex's ribs uncomfortably. "Be a dear and hit the gas, would you?"

The brunette lashed out with her only non-constrained limbs, her legs, in hopes of kicking her purple-haired kidnapper in the head. "How about no! Now get your ass of my ass!"

"My, my, you're not a very polite little girl," he sang mockingly, slipping over into the drivers seat and violently sending them into motion in the process. Alex had barely moved her head out of the way before he plopped down on the seat and was flung none-too-gently into the passenger door.

The girl struggled to sit up on the slippery material as well as keep all of her part parts inside. "Paul, get me the hell out of here!"

"Shut up and sit down!" barked driver, sliding around a large pillar of rock.

"Make me," Alex retorted, slapping at the hands holding the steering wheel.

Bad idea.

By now, they were in an open area created by the ocean-side cliffs standing in a crescent-shaped formation. There were tall, mini island-like rock towers standing high above the water line, nearly level with the tops of the cliffs. They were hardly big enough to stand on let alone land a vehicle on. The swishing of the silver moon-lined waves crashed at least a hundred feet below, throwing themselves on the dark, lower rocks and curling back in raining droplets.

So now, having been jostled from her seat as Gabriel attempted to regain control by brisky stomping on the brake and sending them into a dangerous tilt, Alex hung from the side of the humming machine by the bend of her fingers, feet running on air and hair slipping from her bun, making it difficult to see. "Shit," she cursed, looking at the vast distance between her and the ocean. She knew she likely wouldn't survive a drop. A hand slapped onto one of her wrists, wrapping around the limb

"You know, I'm starting to think you're more trouble then you're worth. I can see why the Master didn't bother bringing you with him," growled Gabriel. His luminescent orbs glanced rapidly between adjusting to straighten the vehicle and what portion of the brunette he could see.

"Riiii!" The small black and blue pokemon had gotten past the battling magmortar and hounter to find his trainer. His ruby eyes welled with fright at the sight of the brown-haired girl dangling dangerously in the air. He hurriedly closed his eyes, letting out an intense cry that echoed from the cave.

Alex struggled. Her fingers were beginning to burn and though the boy had a hold of one of her arms, she didn't feel very secure…

Especially as the car harshly lashed back in the other direction without warning, nearly ripping her hands away from the door. After a momentary incline the car reeled back in a drop and settled in an even deeper tilt on her side. With a few shaky breaths, she allowed here gaze to wander down, and what she saw didn't ensure her very much.

The strain on the cables due to the awkward angle the vehicle had fallen into was too much, and the two that were pulled upward by the slant gave way. Now all of its weight was pulling on her side of the vehicle, making it droop significantly more.

"What the hell was that?" Gabriel demanded to the girl, whom he could see nearly in full now thanks to the vehicle being increasingly closer to having its sides completely vertical.

"Well," Alex pursed her lips and lifted her eyes from the remaining two wires. She wasn't given a chance to answer, however, as the other two supports cracked. The aircraft snapped in the other direction, ripping Alex's grip away from the side.

"Not Ag-AINNN," Alex screamed, feeling her heart drop to her gut, her stomach in her throat and the wind cutting past her. She couldn't keep her eyes open and bolted them closed, trying not to think about the impending landing. However, it was short lived.

But it wasn't because she landed.

The brunette felt soft fur against her face and a pair of arms tucking under her waist and knees. Her hair settled around her as the air calmed. Her brown eyes fluttered open, immediately being drawn to the brilliant, transparent cobalt sphere that was encased around her, then up to two dark red eyes. She barely realized they had landed as the creature set her down on an outcropping near water level.

Now standing about chest-height to the girl was a bipedal, jackal-like pokemon with blue and black fur, aside from a pale yellow torso. It resembled her riolu, though its ears had grown and there were now two black appendages under each ear instead of one, which settled back around its face as the blue bubble degenerated. The metal on its now black hands had extended into short spikes, along with a third emerging on its chest.

"Aura? Is that you?" she asked hesitantly.

_'Yes, it is I.'_

Alex jumped with fright, almost whirling around to see who else was there. She laughed immediately afterwards. "I nearly forgot your evolved form allows you to use telepathic power, doesn't it."

_'That is correct.'_ His tail twitched as he shifted his attention to the quickly fleeing black aircraft. _'When I witnessed you in such distress, it caused me to evolve into a form that would grant me power to aide you.'_

The brunette blinked at the pokemon, who blinked back. A smile twitched on her lips and she instantly threw her arms around him, careful of the spike. "Thank you, Aura. I didn't mean to worry you."

Lucario slowly hugged back, glad his trainer was okay and he was able to make her proud.

"Now," the girl stated, stepping back, "You wouldn't happen to grow wings in this form, would you? We seem to be stranded," she laughed.

_'…No, I do not. I apologize,'_ he retorted dejectedly, eyes downcast.

"Haha, I was only kidding!" Alex giggled until she caught the subtle beat of flapping wings. It was hard to distinguish in the dismal light of the early morning, but as it came closer it was revealed to be Paul's honchkrow.

_'She says she saw what happened, and she'll fly us both back up,'_ lucario stated as the navy, red and white-feathered bird landed next to them.

"Awesome, thanks honchkrow!" Alex eagerly climbed on the fluffy bird's back, followed by her pokemon and began their gradual ascent to the campsite. After letting them off, honchkrow flew off once again, likely in search of Paul.

Lucario and Alex were met by the rest of the pokemon rushing towards them. Paul's two remaining pokemon stood slightly off, but still looked appreciatively onward. And charizard, of course, huffed in annoyance that he couldn't help.

"Hn, so you're alive after all."

The brunette whipped around, facing a frowning purplette as he slid off of his bird. "Paul, you're alright!" she said with relief. She then realized what she had forgotten in her shock. "Oh my gosh, what happened to misdreavus and the Kendrick's machine?"

Paul sighed. "The ghost disappeared sometime while I was battling the haunter. As for the stupid machine, it's probably at the bottom of the ocean somewhere."

"Hmm," Alex hummed disappointedly, "I wish I was able to save it. I guess Missy's okay, though. Wonder who she went to haunt now."

As if just remembering she had gotten about 4 hours of good sleep over the span of 48 hours, it hit the brunette like a dump truck and forced out a yawn, which in turn caused the purplette to yawn. "Damn, can I go to sleep now?"

"Hey guys, what's going on?"

"Eh?" Alex stared incredulously at the spiky-haired brunette boy _just_ waking up and watching the group with bleary curiosity, rubbing at the red-blotched cloth on his head. "Gary! Your head's bleeding again! We have to get you to a hospital!"

"Grrr-uff!" Arcanine bent down with his crème-colored belly to the ground beside his trainer, though the boy didn't seem to notice. His eyes instead wandered to his bloodstained hands with rapt, yet unfocused interest.

Alex rushed over to the puzzled boy and lugged him unsteadily to his feet. "Alright there, buddy. You're going ahead." She flung him over the large, fluffy dog's back sideways. She wished she could go with him to keep him secure in his place, but she couldn't leave Paul to clean up all of their camping equipment and carry their packs and look after the pokemon.

"Arcanine, be careful and try to keep him as stable as you can. Take him straight to the Pokemon Center, okay?" Her fingers stroked his snout as he let out a sound of understanding, and she watched him canter into the trees.

With a sigh, the brunette looked at the mess of food, blankets and bags. All of Paul's pokemon had been called back into their pokeballs, and the boy himself was beginning to roll up his sleeping bag. Her eyes switched to her clump of pokemon, who were huddled around the newly evolved lucario.

Except for eevee.

"Hey, what's your eevee think she's glaring at?"

"Hm?" Alex turned to the purplette. An amused smile broke onto her face, seeing her small fox sitting at the end of Paul's sleeping bag, usually bight, wide brown eyes narrowed and bushy tail flicking with annoyance. "I think she's mad you didn't take her with you when you noticed I was gone," she chuckled, though froze as two sets of hardened eyes snapped on her.

"Hey, I didn't plan to fall into a creepy cave all by myself with no way out!" she huffed, puffing out her cheeks and crossing her arms. "You two are mean."

_'They only worry for your safety,'_ Aura responded in her head, placing a paw on his trainer's shoulder in comfort.

"Hmf," she returned childishly with a pout. "Whatever, let's finish cleaning up so we can check on Gary."

"You're pokemon seem to have taken care of the rest of the food," Paul stated dully, gingerly picking the tiny fluff-ball off of his sleeping bag with arms fully outstretched as though she would spontaneously turn rabid and tear his face off. And sure enough, behind him where there was once a heap of food, stood nothing but her pokemon with berry stains and crumbs on their mouths.

_'And I have taken care of the boy's belongings.'_

"Oh," Alex blinked, looking down at her own sleeping bag. Soft, cozy, warm sleeping bag. How nice it would be to take a long, relaxing, restful nap right about now…

"Are you going to pack up or just stare at it?" demanded the purplette, hooking his arms around his backpack.

The girl sighed sadly. "Fine, fine." She bent down and clumsily rolled it and tied it to her pack. Staring drowsily through half-lidded orbs, she said, "There, happy?"

"Ecstatic," said Paul, sounding anything but. He shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking down the all too familiar path. "I swear if I ever end up here again I'm going to torch the whole forest to the ground."

With a snort at the boy's comment, Alex called back most of her pokemon, but observed her cranky fox, who remained unmoving from the place where Paul had transferred her to. Her fingers felt for the cold metal zipper on the bottom part of her backpack and slid it across, removing the container within. "Isis," she cooed, holding out a pretty pink, sweet tasting, small, disk-shaped treat between her fingers. "I have a poffin for you."

"Eeeeie!" the little creature chirped, climbing onto the girl's shoulder companionably to receive the sweet. Her tail now swished cheerfully as she crunched away while her trainer held it out for her, following Paul so as not to get lost.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." She shook her head at the sweet-loving fox, scratching the scruff of brown fur on the pokemon's forehead as she finished eating. "Can't stay mad at me for long, can ya?" Her eevee responded by sticking out her tongue.

Alex caught up to Paul, who was walking swiftly away from their campsite with eyes set straight ahead. He appeared bored as always, as well as irritated. She fell into step with him, her feet occasionally faltering on the uneven ground, though Paul only seemed focused on getting out of there as fast as possible. She bit her lip and let her gaze fall to the dark forest bed.

"Paul, I'm sorry for dragging you into this." She heard no response for a few steps and continued. "I…I'll probably stay here with Gary until his head heals enough for him to go home, since I'm sort of the one that caused it. Even though our brothers told us to travel together, I don't want to hold you back. I'll understand if you decide to go back on your own." Still, she heard nothing from the boy.

_'I guess he's so mad he won't even talk to me,'_ Alex thought sadly.

It wasn't too long with the pace that Paul set to reach the town. As soon as her foot touched the cement walkways of Canalave City, she briskly made her way to the eastern part of the city and to the blinking pink Pokemon Center that was looking good as new after the robbery. She assumed Paul wouldn't be following her and made no attempt to wait for him.

"Ah, Alex, there you are!" greeted Nurse Joy. Her lips pulled into the brightest smile that still looked genuine that the girl was nearly dazed. "I'm so happy to see you're alright. When you and Paul didn't return last night, and Mr. Oak went looking for you then came back injured, I thought something terrible might have happened."

The brunette grimaced back at the pink-haired woman. "Well, it was quite a night. How's Gary and arcanine?"

"Gary's fine, it's just a slight concussion but he lost quite a bit of blood and though we're not really equipped for this sort of thing being a Pokemon Center, I think we can help him. Arcanine refuses to leave his side."

"Thank goodness," Alex breathed in relief with a hand over her chest. "If arcanine becomes too much to handle, just let me know and I'll take him off your hands."

The bubbly nurse beamed and nodded. "I will. I'm just going to check on him now, so please excuse me. Oh, nice to see you're fine as well, Paul."

"Thank you."

"Paul?" the girl exclaimed, spinning around. Her eyes locked with the bored, coal ones of the purplette boy as he leaned beside the sliding glass door, arms crossed. She quickly looked away. "I thought you were leaving."

"Tch, idiot. Did you foget it's an island? The first blimb doesn't leave until 6:30." Paul's lip twitched as Alex gazed down almost disappointedly. "Besides, if I left you and him alone, one of you would end up killing the other," he added, though not sounding convincingly annoyed.

The corner of the brunette's lips tugged upward and her brown orb met his once again. "So, you're staying?" she asked hopefully. Truthfully, it was nice to have an actual human to talk to, even if he wasn't always the most pleasant person in the room.

"I suppose I have no choice," Paul shrugged, a small smirk on his face. "You should really clean up if I'm going to have to hang around you. You look like you fell off a cliff."

Alex scrunched her nose up, glowering at the boy's back as he sauntered back to their room. "Paul, you jerk!" Though, she still couldn't help a smile breaking on her face.

Even though he probably wouldn't admit it, the journey that had started off a bit begrudgingly for the two solo-travelers, slowly brought them together. She had a knack for finding trouble, and he still stuck around though it would have been easier to just forget about her. He was cold and had a knack for insulting others, but she ignored his sometimes harsh comments and found he really wasn't all that bad. And though he didn't act like it, if she was the damsel in distress, he was her knight in shining armor.

"Thank you, Paul, for not abandoning me," Alex whispered, a smile almost as wide as Nurse Joy's adorning her face as she watched her companion saunter down the hall to their room.

"Idiot, are you going to stand there like an eyesore all day?"

* * *

**And with that, I am fini for today. Now, I have to go babysit a couple of brats for a few hours, so cross your fingers that I come back alive.**

**...No seriously. They fight like a couple of miniature wrestlers. **

**Again, I hope it isn't another two months before I see you all again. I don't plan on dying today -.-' Send me a message, drop a line in the review page, I love hearing from you :D It makes me so happy to see that people are reading...There are people reading, right?**

**Hello...?**


	38. That Which Must Be Done

**Pokémon **

Holy cheese and crackers!

Grade 12 and don't know what you want to do for the rest of your life...or even University? It feels pretty freakin' crappy. But hey, you can just take a little bit of everything in high school just in case, like me. Chances are, I probably won't need pre-calculus or calculus for whatever I end up doing. So WHY AM I THERE? Because taking the hardest courses I could find seemed like the best way to go at the time. On the plus side, I'm actually doing good. But how much work will teachers give you before realizing that you have better things to do with your evening?

_*Breathes*_ Now that that's out of the way _*shoves mountain of homework to the side*_ I shall FINALLY post this chapter.

People who favorited or followed or is a little ghost that pops in to read without a name or leaving a trace...hey I don't judge. But thanks for the support :D It makes me smile knowing people like it and makes me feel good as somebody who likes to write when possible that people are there reading :)

**cpdx: **Ummm...update wasn't soon :( my bad. Hope your still reading anyway! Cuz if not it would be like talking to myself right now... Ah, unfortunately I do not have deviantart. Message again soon :)

**julie .ramirez2015: **I saw your review while I was checking my e-mail and was like "You know what, I actually have time right now. Let's do this!" Thanks for reviewing :)

This chapter seems kind of like a filler to me, but I suppose it had to be done. Tried to add some humour...not sure how it worked but I tried.

Long chapter make it all better? No? ...Virtual cookie and milk?

**Chapter 38 – That Which Must Be Done**

After a trying and tiring few days, now back in the solace of the Canalave City Pokemon Centre, Alex took a long shower, an hour-long catnap, changed into clean clothes and followed the fanning scent of warm food…but still felt pretty crappy. The lack of sleep hung over her like a dark veil, creating a hood over her darkened eyes down to the droopy sweater, loose sweats and the ever-cozy fuzzy slippers.

Yes, that's right. Fuzzy slippers, for Alex vowed that she wasn't leaving the Pokemon Centre the entire day because the island was out to get her.

"…" Paul regarded the girl quietly from the bench across from her. Her interesting footwear choice was planted on the plush surface of her seat, knees pulled up to her chin and arms constricting her limbs all together. And even though this was all meant for her comfort, the brunette was as tense as ever, brisling against anything that threatened to cause her more grief.

"What?" the girl muttered sulkily, burying her face into the soft material covering her legs until only her eyes were visible.

"…" With a shrug, the purplette averted his eyes to the window, where the sky had taken on an astonishing shade of grey that could be mistaken for a cloud of black smog at first glance. The dusky cover hung low upon the city, unyielding to the once cheerful blue sky or for the noon-high sun to peek through. And if everything in the always-bright Pokemon Centre were to settle down, there would be a faint rumbling rolling in from across the churning ocean.

Alex reached down and stroked her slippers with a sigh. She had put eevee and the rest of her pokemon back in their pokeballs to rest, seeing as they also had a trying few days and they deserved to sleep in. The girl felt kind of lonely, and increasingly sick about smashing her best friend over the head with a log. Especially when she found out he was only out in the woods because he was worried about her. And Paul's silent attitude made it almost seem as if she were sitting all by her listless, lonesome self.

"Sorry about the wait. Alex, you'll be happy to know that Gary is recovering fine. I've settled him in to rest and he may have some trouble focusing when he gets up." At least Nurse Joy remained overly-bubbly and positive, emerging from the back room with her traditional smile.

The trainer's response was a miniscule nod and a yawn. "I need coffee," she mumbled quietly, barely registering anything around her or the words spoken to her.

"Right awa-"

"NO! Don't do it!" came a shrill shriek, found to be the thought-to-be-unconscious Gary Oak as he ran over and just about trampled over the startled pink-haired nurse. He was followed closely by a less than happy, waddling pink pokemon, though the boy either didn't care or didn't notice. He placed his hands on Nurse Joy's shoulders with wide, dilated pupils. "She'll go crazy! Don't give it to her! It's like giving a fully loaded gun to an assassin; she could kill _everyone_!"

The brunette lifted her head away from her knees, now in full awareness, to glare at her so-called friend. "Excuse me?"

Gary whipped his head back and forth defiantly. "Don't listen to her! She's worse than a swarm of angry beedril. Worse than a terrorizing, fire-breathing dragon that has been _stung_ by a swarm of angry beedril! Worse than-"

"Oak, do you want to end up in a coma for the rest of your life?!" Alex roared, rolling her sleeves up to her biceps threateningly. "I swear, Oak, I'm not running on very much sleep so don't test me. Do _not_ make my fuzzy slippers hit this floor or I'll dropkick you all the way to-"

"Now, now, let's everybody calm down," Nurse Joy stated firmly, spinning herself and the hysterical boy around so she stood between the two teens. Her tone was stern as she crossly placed her fists on her hips and stared down her patient. "Mr. Oak, you are _supposed _to be in your room resting."

"Meep!" Gary ducked behind the strict nurse, slid under the table, and cowered behind Alex. "No! Lexi, don't make me go back to the white room! Do you have any idea who I am? I'm the grandson of-hey, your hair smells really good."

Still in her curled up position, the girl watched with a raised brow as Gary lifted a long strand of her chocolate-colored hair up to his nose and inhaled as much as he could. "What's wrong with him?" she asked hesitantly, tugging the strand of hair away from the boy in case he decided to try to eat it.

Nurse Joy gave the girl a hesitant smile. "Well, I knew he would have trouble focusing, but it appears as though the painkillers we gave him didn't react as they should have."

"Ah," Alex turned her gaze back towards the boy, who was grinning in his seat beside her while staring unblinkingly ahead. Of course the quiet Paul, who glowered back with agitation, appeared to be the object of his amusement, at least for a moment. Alex sighed. "I'll take care of him. Just bring me some pancakes, I guess."

"Sure thing…" the nurse replied slowly, eyeing the table tentatively. She turned on her heel and fled from the table, and with a sigh, her chansey wobbled behind.

Paul's eye twitched, unwilling to back down from the awkward and irritating stare down that the idiot across from him had commenced. As he grew more unnerved by each passing moment, the boy remained with the same unblinking, smirking visage.

Brown orbs lazily watched the two, almost unnoticeably scooting away from her seat buddy. Once she was as far as she could get without falling out of her seat, still disregarded by both boys, she heaved a deep breath and cuddled back into herself.

"Lexi! What's the matter, Little Lexi?" Gary pounced on his best friend, nearly toppling her off of the bench. The only reason she was still upright was because his arms enclosed around her and squished the girl tighter into her fetal position. He kept on sprouting out things about how she must have been lonely without his awesomness around her, listing all the reasons he was awesome, how she was almost awesome, but only because his awesomness rubbed off on her, how emo-kids were so _not_ awesome…and he somehow missed the dark aura rolling off the other two people at the table.

"Oh, looks like everybody is getting along," Nurse Joy stated. She placed a stack of syrup-coated, strawberry-garnished, whip cream-topped pancakes in the middle of the table. She was once again in good cheer, thinking everything was fine after seeing the troublesome Gary Oak hugging his supposed 'best friend'. She also didn't notice the contradictory glare of two trainers. Instead, the flickering light behind the gloomy clouds captured her pink gaze.

"I've never seen so many large-scale storms hit our island in such a short period of time. Some of the locals are starting to worry."

"I knew this island was out to get me," the girl muttered darkly, skewering a strawberry with her fork and nibbling at its vibrant ruby flesh.

Paul rose a brow, asking, "It is an island, isn't it usual to get storms?"

"Well," the nurse hesitated, deciding whether or not to continue, "We do get our fair share of rain storms, but hardly ever like this. There was a rumor that there's a mysterious island out beyond Iron Island that is said to appear very rarely, bringing with it massive storms like this…but it's only a rumor. Most sailors won't sail when weather like this comes on."

"Tch," Paul scoffed, once again becoming uninterested, "And since nobody actually sails in the storms, nobody's seen the island that they claim could be there. As if a storm could magically make an entire island appear out of nothing."

"I don't know. There are anomalies like that all over the world that can't be explained. And how did the rumor start if nobody has ever seen it?" Gary piped up sensibly, causing everyone to stare incredulously.

"Gary, you're back!" The girl smiled as he blinked at her. Then, suddenly he collapsed headfirst onto the fluffy pillow of pancakes, the medication he was given finally efficiently sedating him.

"And there he goes," Paul finished quietly to himself, rolling his eyes and taking a bite of his breakfast, consisting of plain toast. It was still better than flat pancakes crowned with a big, egotistical head.

Alex pouted. "Aw, my breakfast!" Her stomach growled in agreement. The girl heaved a sigh and poked the boy's face with the prongs of her fork, blandly asking, "is he alright?"

"I'm sure he's fine. Concussion patients tend to sleep a lot," Nurse Joy answered evenly as though it was completely normal for her patients to drop unconscious on a plate of food under her supervision.

She returned to the previous conversation, her eyes been lit up by a sky-illuminating flash, "As to the island, though there haven't been many sailors on the water during a storm, there have been people stranded on Iron Island until it was passed who have claimed to see a silhouette of a land mass that vanished as soon as the storm blew over."

Suppressing a cringe as a more discernible clap of thunder trailed the light closely behind, Alex prodded at the edges of the remaining, semi-suitable-for-eating pancakes that subsisted the head-smushing, determined to eat some. "Well, either way, there is _nothing_ that can make me leave this building until I believe I'm not going to get killed." She was about to take a bite of the heavenly, sugarcoated goodness before a sudden noise and buzzing from her backpack on the floor, soundless to everyone else, made her expression sour.

_Beep. Beep. Beep…Beep. Beep. Beep…_

Dark eyes watched from across the table as the brunette angrily tore the food from her utensil, slammed it back on the table, flung her legs to the side and making the pensive nurse jump. She grabbed the shoulder of her backpack roughly to sling it on her back, and stomped off with her fuzzy slippers squelching across the shining tile floor, muttering, "I'll be right back," under her breath.

The girl tore through her bag, not bothering to find the privacy within her room, and pressed the green button on the palm-sized black device in the middle of the bright, but otherwise unoccupied hallway. "What?" Alex quietly snapped. She wasn't too impressed at the fact her fuzzy slippers were pressing into the cold floor, away from her cozy little booth, nor was she amused at the inelegantly disheveled face of Dimentio, who took pride in being anything but, appearing on the tiny screen.

"Shadow! It's horrible! It's terrible! What are we going to do?!"

"Don't yell at me," the girl huffed, scrunching her nose. "What's _your_ problem? Your stylist go on vacation? Barber jump off a cliff? Somebody steal all your mirrors?"

The ebony haired man growled, pushing a hand through the spiked strands. Nonetheless, the irritation forced past the near anxiety attack and he was able to speak more clearly, though spite rang out in his voice. "Grim contacted me saying there's a key on some stupid island near Canalave City and it might be our only chance to get it, but our jet is under repair. Dark is in Jubilife, but with the weather the blimp to get across is closed so there's nothing we can do except hope that none of those other idiots are there!" he finished with a sneer.

'_Oh no, not the island. It can't be…' _"Uh, I'm here…" _'No! Bad brain! Shut up and don't speak without permission!'_

Green eyes flashed with optimistic attentiveness across the screen. "Here? Here where?"

The brunette winced, uncertainly answering, "Here in Canalave." She had a feeling her fuzzy slippers weren't going to find the comfort of the plush, red cushions of her bench again anytime soon.

"Oh…" The charming man looked stunned for the first time since she met him. He looked off to the side and muttered, "Why the hell didn't anybody know that?"

"And I found the Adaptability Neucleofuser…"

"The _what_?" Dimentio yelled, evidently shocked beyond belief. He shook his head as Alex went to explain. "No, no, I know what it is."

"…But it's at the bottom of the ocean."

It seemed to take a moment of thought, head bowed out of view, before the man revealed his charming face, eyes sparkling and lips pulled into a manipulative smile. "Well, aren't you the overachiever. If you have the ability to find and destroy a missing machine then it should be no problem finding some stupid vanishing island in the middle of nowhere then retrieve a silly old key, right?"

"Well, you see-"

"Right! I _always_ knew you were right for this job, my darling Shadow."

"But I-"

"You come back without the key, or at least destroying it as well, you'll be the one jumping off a cliff, but we won't supply you with a parachute this time. Okay, look forward to hearing from you! Ciao!" he finished joyfully, vanishing with his scheming personality back in tact, and Alex the one close to a wreck.

"Ah damn," Alex exhaled. "This island is going to be the end of me." Heaving an exhausted groan, the girl squelched her way to her rented room to switch out her lovable footwear and find a jacket to brave the incoming elements outside. All along the way she mumbled, "Remember, Alex, your doing this to gain their trust. You need them for information. Just hang in there."

Half of the shared room looked like a tornado tore through it. Clothes lay strewn and crumpled on the floor, the chair and desk, windowsill, and her bed from this morning's attempt to get dressed. The sheets on top of the bed were twisted and folded and scrunched up by the wall, pillows crumpled and not at all where they should be. Yet, it still looked so comfy and inviting…

"Just hang in there," she recited, glaring at the pristine, un-lived-in-looking opposite side that was Paul's. The brunette marched right on past with a sneer in search of the waterproof boot that matched the one on top of the curtain rod.

After a 15-minute hunt and now garbed in a matching pair of sleek black boots, Alex strode down the hall and up to the table with purpose, setting her backpack down only long enough to shrug on and zipper a thin black raincoat. She knew that the coal eyes of her traveling partner were glued on her though she hadn't glanced at him upon reaching the table. She wasn't too keen on telling him what she was about to do after all that had happened already.

The table was quiet except for the shuffling and movement of the girl. Paul noticed she wouldn't look at him and that she was keeping her mouth shut in a straight line. He took it upon himself to ask, rather curiously because it was amazing how many ridiculous situations she seemed to get herself into, "What are you doing?"

A contemplative expression crossed the brunette's features, wondering how to word what she was going to say until it just blurted out without her brain's permission...again. "To find the island."

"…What?"

"What?!"

Alex whipped around to see the tray Nurse Joy carried tip perilously along with a fresh plate of equally deliciously-garbed pancakes, for her cry was much more alarming to catch her attention than the deadpanned one from the boy. Alex gave a small, feeble smile. "Thank you for your concern, but this is really something I must do. You know me, I'm all for adventure," she tittered, turning to tuck her sweats into her boots to break eye contact.

'_Must do?'_ the purplette thought, yet remained quiet until the females were done with their chat.

The nurse put the plate on the table with a little more force than necessary. "You're kidding right?" she sternly assured. The motherly instincts roared up in the kind nurse and glowered at the young teen trainer.

"Sadly, no." Alex fastened her pokeball belt tightly on her hips. She had learned her lesson about wandering off on her own with the most recent scare, and she sure wasn't going to make that mistake again anytime soon. A trainer isn't exactly as efficient without pokemon. With the addition of the rest of her gear affixed to her back, she was, more or less, set for her mission.

Paul paused for a moment with his response, speculating whether the brunette was going to laugh at her own joke. It was doubtful, as well as untrue, but he still held onto that shred of hope. However, the girl didn't seem to be waning from her claim.

Though the single table was quiet, the rest of the Pokemon Centre was not. While the peculiar, smog-like clouds and spectacular streaks of lightning danced over the murky, far-off ocean had captivated the attention of many tourists into getting a closer look out by the waterside for a while, the icy droplets that began to leak from the billowing ceiling and the flashes rolling ever closer up the coast, followed by the rumbling of the thunder, was enough to scare them all back inside.

Except for a young teen trainer who was just preparing to make her exit with the hood on her jacket being tugged over her head. "Don't let Gary drown in the syrup. The Professor would be terribly upset with me…or extremely happy… Well, if you think of it then-"

"Are you insane?!"

For a moment, Alex wasn't sure who had spoken. It couldn't have come from the typically placid and cool Paul. But, seeing as there were no other conscious males in the immediate vicinity, and the purplette now stood with his hands firmly placed on the table as though he were pushing her back into her seat, she assumed that he was indeed the one who had spoken. His eyes were now in full contact with hers, challenging and with conviction. But Alex hardly skipped a beat with her response. "Most probably." Her back turned as she gritted, "Not like I have much of a choice. Of all the things they could have me do…"

Paul scoffed. "It's not like you'll find a sailor willing to take you out anyway."

* * *

"_~ Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me! ~" _

Alex collapsed into a fit of giggles after what seemed like hours of spinning hook-armed with a young, peppy sailor and belting out random songs. She lay on her back, feeling her body bob and rock while supported by the dark planks of wood supporting her above the riling water crashing and foaming against the hull of the ship. A torrent of rain pounded down on her face, hood long forgotten, and spilled off her raincoat and boots, but soaked her now extremely and uncomfortably waterlogged sweat pants. Still, she lay there with eyes closed and a smile on her lips, much like the captain of their ship at her side.

"Don't you think you should be, I don't know, _steering the ship_?" Paul, who was propped along a wall under a short awning near the captain's quarters and avoiding the bulk of the rain, leered out at the other male.

"Naw, it's _much _more fun this way! The wind and the sea know where they're going, so let them lead us."

Pulling herself back up onto her butt, the brunette glanced down at the sailor. "But how can we be sure the wind and the sea is going the same way we are?"

Paul face-palmed. Were they really having this conversation? It was at this time that Paul contemplated as to why he was on the violently pitching mound of boards, and how this came to be. He couldn't remember how long exactly it was since they set out on their voyage, but to his tastes and the cold, brutal weather, it was far too long.

_Roughly 30 minutes prior_

"_Really? You will?" Alex gushed. Hey, if she was getting dragged into this mess, she was going to make an adventure out of it. Plus, now that her curiosity was piqued, her motivation was restored. The brunette was now wide awake, thanks to the rain that made it feel like you were submerged in a bucket of ice-water, and she was ready to rumble. _

"_Really? You will?" Paul asked with a combination or irritation and disbelief. The deep-down mean part of him that he reserved for those special people he just couldn't stand was screaming _'You should have been out of here on the first blimp last night!'_ He pushed his hands down further in his pockets and told that part of him to shut up. _

"_Really! I will!" beamed a teal-haired boy, older than them but not by too much, sitting atop a bobbing ship that much resembled an undersized pirates ship, complete with a ragged skull-and-crossbones flag trembling in the wind. He sat just beyond the spiked crown of the gaping gyarados figurehead leaping from the front of the ship, sided up against the port._

_What drew Alex to him was the fact he was like a joyful ray of sunshine lost in the curtains of rain and brightening the shadow of the clouds. Though his eyes were the shade of the deep depths of the sea, his attire included an orange bandana with whimsical yellow designs matted to his short, teal hair and tanned face, a two-toned, bright yellow striped t-shirt that didn't seem to lose it's brilliance despite the downpour, baggy and tatted jean shorts with large, orange-buckled pockets, and his feet continued the vibrancy with two, orange-colored, yellow-laced shoes kicking merrily off the sides of the gyarados figure. And the closed-eyed, toothy smile he maintained despite being out in the elements never once dimmed its intensity, and that alone was enough to liven up the brunette._

"_Awesome!" she cheered. Without a moments debate she was jogging halfway across the port and clambering up the flimsy wooden boardwalk to mount the ship._

_The purplette never took his eyes of the stupidly grinning sailor boy, giving him a vacant look that seemed to commune "Why in the world would you do something so stupid and reckless?" _

_Apparently, there was a language barrier, because the boy continued to smile like there was no tomorrow. Not sensing the apprehension from the male standing in front of him, his rather childish voice called down, "Hey, are you comin' too? Ya better hurry on up!"_

"_Not until I know why you seem so willing to sail us out in the middle of one of the biggest storms in nearly a decade. Who are you, anyway?"_

"_Paul!" droned the female from the deck, her head popping over the edge near the jovial boy seconds later. Why couldn't she make friends as happy-go-lucky and optimistic as the sailor boy? His personality was so upbeat and contagious that the brunette couldn't help but go along with him. "Don't be such a party-pooper! Just because you were wrong for once in your life doesn't mean you have to take it out on everybody else. Honestly, I should have left you back at-"_

_Paul growled. "If I get on, will you shut up?"_

_Lips pulling up to match the expression of the sailor, Alex nodded happily. She watched her traveling partner sigh, appearing exceptionally gloomy since he was not at all dressed for the conditions, and trudge along the same path she had. However, as much as she didn't like to admit it, he brought up a good point._

"_Who are you, anyway?" she turned to the sailor._

_The teal-haired boy swiveled in his seat so he would be facing the girl, his smile doubling though she wasn't sure if it was possible. "The name's Eli, sailor extraordinaire!"_

"_Oh, so you've been sailing for a long time then?"_

"_Nope!" Eli grinned as though he were quite proud of himself. "Only about 6 months."_

_Alex's head quirked to the side. "But you've sailed through a storm like this before?"_

"_Nope! But it sounds like an adventure!" _

_Paul was at the girl's side by this time. The blank look was still etched on his face, hands fisted and drowning in his soggy pockets. A brow rose at the ignorantly blissful sailor, thinking for sure this would be enough to get them off of the ship and end the entire charade._

"…_Good enough!"_

"_What?!" Paul demanded, gawking at the girl incredulously. _

_Eli jumped up off his post and extended his fist to the black sky. "Allll-right! Let's get the anchor up and head out!" With his thrilled exclamation, the boy hopped, skipped and jumped about the ship to set sail._

_The mixture between the humid air and the ice-cold droplets plunging to the earth was causing a smoky white haze to creep out and rest on the ground and ocean surface. It didn't seem to bother Alex or Eli, who had their minds set. Paul, however, took his traveling partner by the shoulders and made her look at him._

_Faced with the insistent, prying eyes of the male, the smile flickered from the brunette's lips. The cold drops stung at her rosy cheeks, which reddened under the intense gaze though she would claim it was from the cold. And when he asked why she was doing this, she didn't know what to say._

_Of course she was doing this because these people, however manipulative and immoral they may be, probably knew more about her parents then both of their children combined given they were they only meaningful thing written in her father's journal. And after finding this opportunity after 10 years, she would be damned if she wasn't going to follow it as far as it would take her. But of course it couldn't be as easy as walking up to a nice group of people in a bright, friendly neighborhood and saying "hey, I'm the daughter of an old friend of yours; do you know whatever happened to them?" No. For some reason, it seemed their friends happened to be a band of misfits. And outlaws at that. And even though Ryan told her to be vigilant and to back out if she was in any trouble, and she definitely would have been shipped back to Pallet Town and put under house arrest under the watchful eye of Delia Ketchum if they ever found out what she was doing, Alex hated giving up. Besides, they had to have some helpful information for her, right?_

_And again, if she told any of this to Paul, he would either look at her so outlandishly, decide she was insane and jump overboard (unlikely), convince Officer Jenny to arrest her and put her in a mental institute as soon as they found land again (assuming they ever made it back to land), or scowl at her until he had a chance to escape and tell her brother that she was crazy which would lead to previously mentioned consequences._

_So, it wasn't without hesitation, a good loooong deliberation and many facial expressions that the brunette finally sighed and unthinkingly muttered, "You should have stayed at the Pokemon Centre."_

"…" _The purplette, rather affronted, returned his hands to his pockets and looked off to the side. "Whatever," he scoffed. He turned on his heel and slogged along the deck to find shelter. If the girl wanted to catch pneumonia as well as be lost at sea with the idiot sailor, so be it. _

BACK TO PRESENT TIME

Brown eyes peered through the blur-inducing rain at her companion. Sure, her remark got Paul off her back for the moment, but she regretted her choice of words. The girl blamed the many comments that spilled out of her mouth without the consultation of her brain on the lack of sleep and excessive stress. Even so, she still couldn't bring herself to apologize, because it would have been in his interest to stay out of it. She also couldn't think of anything that would make the situation better. All she could hope for was for this mission to go smoothly.

"Hey, pal!" Eli popped up in front of her. His grin intensified once he gained her full attention, as though he were trying to smile big enough for the both of them. "What's with the serious face?"

A weak twitch of the lips was all that was given in return. The gravity of her position came pouring back onto her like the bucketfuls of water pelting her body. "I just hope we can find the island, is all," she softly stated, eyes flickering back to the moping purplette.

"You mean the one over there?" the boy beamed, pointing across the dark and hazy horizon towards a spectacle that was hard to miss unless you were lost in thought or moping in a corner, even with the dense fog smothering the air.

Alex stood from her spot in a daze. Her feet carried her over to the side of the ship, the sloppy slosh of her boots splashing against the drenched surface. She felt the presence of Eli slightly behind her, and could hear the jolliness in his tone, but this time couldn't reciprocate it. "See pal, I told you the sea knew where we were going. Drew us in like a magnet."

It was enough for even Paul to glower out from his sheltered nook. Magnificent blazes of yellow reflected in his black orbs. A thunderous boom quaked through the ship's structure and rattled his bones, causing his brunette companion to shudder for an entirely different reason. The smog-like clouds seemed to be emanating from a towering, peaked shadow whose tip was submerged within the obscurity of the spiraling clouds. The frothing, writhing ocean seemed to churn and seize upon anything around the mountainous mass, and the snow-white mist rolling off its shore made it appear as if it were floating in nothingness. However no matter how thick the vapor, it was set alight in the darkness by electrifying bolts of lightning dancing round its perimeter like a fortress.

"Some stupid vanishing island my ass," Alex hissed, smelling the distinct burning stench of when lightning strikes plugging up her senses. She wanted nothing more right then but to curl up in a tight ball, go to sleep and hope that this was all a bad dream. Her nose curled. She clenched her gloved hand into a fist around a pokeball at her waist and sucked in a breath.

She was sure Paul felt somewhat the same way about their current condition. He was just as happy about being out in the middle-of-nowhere ocean during the storm as she was wandering out while a full-fledged storm was rolling out. On second though, probably even worse given that he was slumped in a corner, shivering involuntarily and glaring daggers. But, he actually knew where she was going this time, and that's all he said he wanted. Besides, she was the only one with an agenda on the island. With these thoughts, she braced her decision and took action.

"Paul?" she yelled over the multiple sounds rippling through the air. She met his eyes for just a brief second, droplets drowning most of her vision. A soft smile was barely conveyed, along with the sentence. "I'm sorry, it's something I have to do."

Paul's eyes widened. He sprinted out from under the makeshift shelter with his arm flying from his pocket and stretching outward. But it was too late.

It was too late, because with that one sentence, the young girl dove headfirst into the aggravated, watery abyss below.

* * *

Oooooh cliffhanger! Bad Piano-girl. Bad, bad!

Thanks to all that have made it through another chapter. Cheers to all, thank you kindly for choosing Piano-girl for your reading needs. Have a safe journey as you venture onwards in your lives and I hope to see you all again. If you really enjoyed your stay, please feel free to drop a review in the box, or send a private message if you would like to rant, or talk, or write about unicorns...did we get off topic?

Well, you know what time it is now, folks. It's time to say farewell and play the "When will Piano-girl update this time?" game. Really, even I don't know most of the time! Either way, I shall write for you all again another time.

Ciao for now!


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